French Ballet Music (Great Recordings of the Century) [Original recording remastered]

Gounod (Composer), Berlioz (Composer), Debussy (Composer), Delibes (Composer), Massenet (Composer), Saint-Saens (Composer), Thomas Beecham (Conductor), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Thomas Beecham
• Composer: Gounod, Berlioz, Debussy, Delibes, Massenet, et al.
• Audio CD (September 17, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B00006I0AX
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #600,053 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Especially Good Version of "Le Roi S'Amuse", June 18, 2003

By 

ATP "santamonicaballetmom" (Santa Monica, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: French Ballet Music (Great Recordings of the Century) (Audio CD)

A few years back I discovered Delibes' charming music for "Le Roi S'Amuse" on Naxos "Best of French Ballet" album (ASIN B0000013JQ). I'd never seen another recording until I encountered French Ballet Music. Now I'm very happy to have a "fresh" interpretation. Yes, the original recording was done in the late 1950s, and it's not absolutely clean. But Beecham's interpretation is wonderful. He heightens all the contrasts of tempo and dynamic range. When the violins pluck the strings, you feel as if you're sitting right in the section, listening. The Debussy "Afternoon of a Faun" has the same kind of color and drama.
As far as the Gounod (Faust) and Massenet music go, I'd look elsewhere. I prefer Bernstein's Gounod (ASIN: B0000027N8). And for Massenet's Cinderella, I like Kenneth Jean's version for Naxos (ASIN: B000069CUZ) because I think the March of the Princesses is a better piece of music than the "waltz" on this CD.
"French Ballet Music" is very much a "classic" recording: it doesn't sound like anything recorded in the last 10 years. But if you're curious about Beecham as a conductor of ballet music, this is a wonderful sampler.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice recordings, circa 1960, February 4, 2003

By 

Eddie Cottongim (Buckhead, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: French Ballet Music (Great Recordings of the Century) (Audio CD)

These selections were recorded from 1957 to 1961. The noise floor is noticable, but acceptable. The Gounod and Massenet selections are recorded in mono; the others are in stereo (this is clear on the CD labeling, but not the Amazon.com description).

If these limitations of the source material are acceptable to you, this is a nice album artistically. For perfect recording technology, you will want to look elsewhere.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good program, December 28, 2007

By 

Jeffrey Harris "Jeff" (Texas) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: French Ballet Music (Great Recordings of the Century) (Audio CD)

Yes, you can hear tape hiss. Yes, you can easily tell that these recordings were made 50 years ago.

But why don't conductors record programs like this anymore?! Sir Thomas Beecham died before I was born. This recording is like a time capsule...a glimpse of a better time in the world of classical music. Today, we get CDs crammed with 80 minutes of Massenet or 80 minutes of Debussy or maybe even 80 minutes of Delibes. But there was a time when conductors actually recorded the pieces that inspired them. How wonderful it is to hear these excerpts all in one sitting! It's all French music, but what variety! Of course, Beecham didn't originally plan on all these recordings appearing together on an LP...this is a bit of a reshuffling for the CD era...but Beecham's "lollipops" (as he called them) were well-chosen. He conducts this music like he loves it and he cares about it.

You will love it and care about it, too.

By the way, don't think that the English are too up-tight to do justice to Debussy's "Afternoon". This version makes a good complement to Stokowski's or other favorites.