COMPOSERS: Auber,Boieldieu & Offenbach,Hérold,Lalo,Thomas
LABELS: Decca
WORKS: Overtures by Lalo, Auber, Hérold, Thomas, Boieldieu & Offenbach
PERFORMER: Suisse Romande Orchestra/ Ernest Ansermet
CATALOGUE NO: 425 083-2 ADD (1961)
Pure intravenous champagne, from the surge of Le Roi d’Ys to the fizz of Orpheus in the Underworld. Timeless melodies from half-forgotten operas are punctuated by orchestral fireworks and rounded off by breathtaking sprints. Mignon soars, Raymond swaggers, Zampa is red-hot. Spontaneous is the word for some of the orchestral ensemble, but the rhythms have flair, the lyrical feeling is generous, and early-Sixties sound comes up bright. Robert Maycock