Following the huge success of the previous release of outstanding ballet product, including the magnificent 50 CD box set A FESTIVAL OF BALLET, the ten BALLET EDITION albums and I LOVE BALLET, EMI Classics presents a further eight albums of ballet music.

These 2CD mid-price sets, drawn from the catalogues of EMI Classics and Virgin Classics, present a selection of the best-loved and most popular ballet music by the great composers, performed by the world’s leading artists.

This a collection of many of the best-known and most familiar items from across the whole spectrum of classical ballet. It starts with the swan theme from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and encompasses other famous ‘white’ ballets like Adam’s Giselle and Chopin’s Les Sylphides as well as Prokofiev’s two favourites love stories: Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella. Lively and colourful music is heard from Coppélia, La Fille mal gardée and Gayaneh, and witty sophistication is represented by Poulenc’s Les Biches and Satie’s Monotones. Stravinsky unique musical style is heard in extracts from Petrushka and Apollo and pure dance is not neglected in Franck’s Symphonic Variations, the waltz from Tchaikovsky’s Serenade and the glorious finale from Bizet’s Symphony in C that ends the programme.

Artists

Christopher Warren-Green (violin), Robert Truman (cello), Peter Donohoe (piano), Jean-Philippe Collard (piano), Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, London Festival Ballet Orchestra, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre de l'Opéra de Monte-Carlo, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Ambrosian Singers, London Symphony Chorus, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, John Lanchbery, Robert Irving, Barry Wordsworth, André Previn, Yuri Temirkanov, Terence Kern, Sir Charles Mackerras, Manuel Rosenthal, Sir Simon Rattle, Georges Prêtre, Michel Plasson, Leonard Slatkin, Richard Hickox