Review By WQXR (New York),December 2012
The Most Popular Classical Albums of 2012
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under José Serebrier makes a strong case for the complete Verdi ballet scenes: Otello, Macbeth, Jérusalem, Don Carlo, Aida, Il trovatore and I vespri siciliani. © 2012 WQXR (New York)
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Review By Tobias Pfleger, www.klassik.com,
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Review By Lew Whittington, The Huffington Post,November 2012
On one of the top opera recordings of the year, there isn’t a tenor or soprano to be heard, it is conductor Jose Serebrier’s labor of exquisite love, Verdi: Complete Ballet Music from the Operas leading the resplendent Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in ballet scenes from ‘Othello’, ‘Macbeth’, ‘Jerusalem’, ‘Don Carlo’, ‘Aida’, ‘Il trovatore’ and ‘I vespri siciliani’.
This is a collection of Verdi’s deleted ballet scenes and is a defining recording of this rarefied work.
Serebrier is known for orchestral balance and this quality is certainly evident with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra on this two-disc set very well engineered by Phil Rowlands at The Lighthouse studios in the UK over a three-day period in 2011. © 2012 The Huffington Post Read complete review
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Review By José Antonio García, Scherzo,October 2012
8.572818-19_Scherzo_102012_ES.pdf
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Review By Henry Fogel, Fanfare,September 2012
VERDI, G.: Ballet Music from the Operas (Complete) (Bournemouth Symphony, Serebrier) 8.572818-19
VERDI, G.: Ballet Music from the Operas (Complete) (Bournemouth Symphony, Serebrier) (Blu-Ray Audio) NBD0027
…the performances demonstrates Serebrier to be…interpretively interesting conductor.
Serebrier…brings to the music a greater variety of color, more rhythmic energy, and a wider range of ideas about phrasing. The vitality of his rhythm is perhaps the most significant…it can be heard everywhere, in slow or fast music. The extra lilt he brings, for example, to the waltz right after the introduction of the Don Carlo ballet brings a smile to the listener.
While not all of this music is at Verdi’s most inspired level, none of it is unworthy of our attention. Second-rate Verdi is still better than most composers’ gems! Serebrier’s colorful, charming, and highly committed performances, and the Bournemouth Symphony’s excellent playing, make this a highly recommendable disc. © 2012 Fanfare Read complete review
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Review By WETA,June 2012
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Review By Catherine L. Tully, 4dancers.org,June 2012
Verdi–Complete Ballet Music from the Operas provides a very unusual treat for fans of classical dance music.
Here you’ll listen to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by José Serebrier as they play Giuseppe Verdi’s complete ballet music from the operas. There are pieces here that have only rarely been performed.
At the request of the Paris Opera Verdi began including ballets in his operas, but they were often left out of his published scores. This double CD with Verdi’s complete ballet music is a truly unique piece of musical history that ballet fans of all ages can appreciate. If you love this composer’s work, it is something you really should hear.
The first CD is just over 54 minutes long and includes music from Otello, Macbeth, Jerusalem and Don Carlo. The second is a little longer than an hour and features pieces from Aida, Il trovatore and I vespri siciliani. © 2012 4dancers.org
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Review By Edward Greenfield , Gramophone,June 2012
Verdi’s penultimate masterpiece, Otello…bears little or no resemblance to the late style of the main opera but rather relates to the style of Verdi’s early operas. Shrewdly, Serebrier makes this point right at the start by placing this five-minute piece first on disc 1. In that brief span, Verdi offers a sequence of tiny genre pieces with an oriental flavour.
Serebrier follows that with the three atmospheric numbers Verdi wrote for Act 3 of his much earlier Shakespearean opera, Macbeth…Next comes the long ballet scene for the original French version of Don Carlos, with its sections including some for solo cello and violin, all beautifully played here.
The second disc opens with the one exceptional ballet, that for Aida. Last of all comes the most ambitious of all the ballets, the four substantial numbers representing the seasons of the year that Verdi wrote for I vespri siciliani.
As he has often shown in the past, José Serebrier has a remarkable gift for drawing polished and vigorous performances from his orchestra. The result has all the tension and bite of a live performance with the advantage of studio techniques, helped by refined and beautifully balanced recording, transparent in texture. © 2012 Gramophone Read complete review on Gramophone
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Review By George Hall, BBC Music Magazine,June 2012
Each piece’s vitality and colour are well captured in these performances which combine sweep with finesse. © 2012 BBC Music Magazine
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Review By Pedro Coco Jiménez, Ritmo,June 2012
Entre 1972 y 1973, el sello Philips se embarcó en el proyecto de grabar una integral de los ballets de las óperas de Giuseppe Verdi con las orquesta de la Ópera de Montecarlo y la Sinfónica de Londres, bajo la dirección de Antonio de Almeida, y si bien esta fue comercializada en CD a finales de los ochenta, no es hoy en día muy fácil de encontrar. Otras orquestas como la del Met se han acercado también a esta música para llevarla al disco, pero no completa, por lo que la aparición –además a un precio muy económico– de este CD doble de Naxos es una muy buena noticia. Incluye los tres ballets de los actos primero y segundo de Aida, que la de Almeida no recogía, por lo que, como bien dicen en la carpetilla, es la primera vez que la integral se hace en una única sesión y con una única orquesta. El carismático José Serebrier al frente de la siempre profesional Sinfónica de Bournemouth ofrece una visión muy diferenciada de cada una de estas pequeñas joyas, con gran sensibilidad en su aproximación y excelente juego con las dinámicas. Obviamente sorprende más lo más desconocido, y así, resulta irresistible el majestuoso ballet de La Pellegrina en Don Carlos o el ‘exotismo’ de Jérusalem o Il Trovatore. © 2012 Ritmo
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