This album was recorded at Victoria Hall in Geneva, Switzerland in July 2015.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Alexander Glazunov, composer of the Concert Waltzes, was inspired to write ballet music after attending rehearsals for Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker.
Composition History
Igor Stravinsky's Circus Polka was commissioned by choreographer Georges Balanchine for the Barnum & Bailey circus, to be performed by elephants.
Composition History
The Suite Op. 20a from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, as recorded here, was not compiled by the composer himself but created several months after the ballet's premiere in 1877.
Composer Biography
Dmitri Shostakovich, composer of The Golden Age, was a passionate football fan, especially of his hometown club Zenit St. Petersburg.
Compositional Technique
Tchaikovsky's ballet scores, including Swan Lake, introduced symphonic processing and development methods to the genre, moving beyond merely coloring the plot to precisely characterize dramatic and emotional action.
Compositional Technique
Despite its title, Stravinsky's Circus Polka features continuous changes in beat, syncopations, and shifts, and includes musical quotes from Ravel and Strauss.
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