Tchaikovsky: Ballet At The Opera

The Sunday Age

Sunday August 26, 2007

Michael Shmith

3/5

Tchaikovsky: Ballet At The Opera

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Eloquence

We should all know Tchaikovsky's three great ballet scores: Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker. Lesser known are the shorter ballets from his operas. In this fine recording, Colin Davis conducts ballets from five Tchaikovsky operas - the most famous of which, Yevgeny Onegin, has three of the most brilliant: the Polonaise, Valse and Ecossaise. Davis brings pace and verve, allowing subtle details of Tchaikovsky's orchestration to show through. The ballets from the four remaining operas - The Maid of Orleans, Oprichnik, The Sorceress and Cherevichki (Oxana's Caprice) - also have their fascination in stand-alone form. The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, of which Davis was music director at the time of this 1977 recording, plays with beauty.

Key track: The Polonaise from Yevgeny Onegin has energy and an intoxicating allure.

© 2007 The Sunday Age

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