Yo-Yo Ma might seem like an unlikely protagonist for the tango, but this intrepid musical explorer has taken his task seriously, collaborating with experienced tango musicians. Ma even participates in a posthumous collaboration with one 1987 Piazzolla recording. Furthermore, while he's obviously the headliner here, he doesn't dominate the arrangements nearly as much as he does the billing and ...
Naxos have found an excellent way of bringing these ballet scores to a new audience, and have produced an ideal stocking-filler into the bargain. The highlights from these two popular ballet suites have been chosen, and each number prefaced with an entertaining chunk of narration. The tales are told simply and straightforwardly, with Brian Cant wisely underplaying the panto elements in the two ...
This Swan Lake was the unexpected popular hit of 1996, when radical choreographer Matthew Bourne took Tchaikovsky's traditional ballet by the scruff of the neck and reworked it with a myriad of modern influences and themes to astonishing effect. Seldom have the dark psychological riptides at the heart of so many classical ballets been so brilliantly exposed. The Prince (Scott Ambler) is a ...
Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy are, in many ways, the perfect coupling. Both works are, in their way, extreme, and both works suit Gergiev's unparalleled ability for penetrating to the heart of a score. He paints the Rite of Spring in vivid, almost garish colours, at all times reading the score afresh. Philips' superb recording successfully conveys ...