Gluck - Don Juan · Semiramis (Ballet Pantomimes) / Tafelmusik · Bruno Weil

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Gluck made his reputation as one of opera's great reformers. He was the 18th century's Wagner, an artist who fought against the tyranny of the singer in order to establish a more unified conception of opera in which each element was subservient to the composer's dramatic plan. But what made this radical concept work was a much more positive role for the orchestra, and it's a quality you can hear very clearly in these two ballets. The final scene of Don Juan, depicting his descent into hell, had a direct effect on Mozart when he wrote Don Giovanni. It's the first representation of real terror in music. This then is an important disc historically, but even better, it's highly entertaining musically. --David Hurwitz

Gluck - Don Juan · Semiramis (Ballet Pantomimes) / Tafelmusik · Bruno Weil, Music, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Bruno Weil, Tafelmusik, Ballet, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Classical Peiod Ballet
Gluck - Don Juan · Semiramis (Ballet Pantomimes) / Tafelmusik · Bruno Weil
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Orchestral Treats from an Operatic Great
 Gluck - Don Juan · Semiramis (Ballet Pantomimes) / Tafelmusik · Bruno Weil
Christoph Willibald Gluck , Bruno Weil , and Tafelmusik
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

BalletsBallets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music
All Works by GluckAll Works by Gluck | Gluck, Christoph W. | ( G ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
Ballets & DancesBallets & Dances | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Classical | Styles | Music
TafelmusikTafelmusik | ( T ) | Featured Performers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
Classical MusicClassical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0000028UC
Release Date: 1993-06-01

Tracks:

  1. Don Juan: Sinfonia. Allegro
  2. Don Juan: 1. Andante grazioso
  3. Don Juan: 2. Andante
  4. Don Juan: 3. Allegro maestoso
  5. Don Juan: 4. Allegro furioso-Adagio
  6. Don Juan: 5. Allegro forte risoluto-Andante-Allegretto
  7. Don Juan: 6. Risoluto moderato
  8. Don Juan: 7. Gavotte
  9. Don Juan: 8. Brillante
  10. Don Juan: 9. Allegretto
  11. Don Juan: 10. Moderato
  12. Don Juan: 11. Giusto
  13. Don Juan: 12. Allegro-Presto
  14. Don Juan: 13. Andante grazioso
  15. Don Juan: 14. Andante
  16. Don Juan: 15. Presto
  17. Don Juan: 16. Allegretto - Presto - Andante - Tempo primo
  18. Don Juan: 17. Andante
  19. Don Juan: 18. Allegro giusto
  20. Don Juan: 19. Moderato
  21. Don Juan: 20. Andante
  22. Don Juan: 21. Grazioso
  23. Don Juan: 22. Allegretto
  24. Don Juan: 23. Moderato-Presto-Moderato-Presto
  25. Don Juan: 24. Risoluto e moderato
  26. Don Juan: 25. Allegro-Allegro giusto-Allegro
  27. Don Juan: 26. Andante staccato
  28. Don Juan: 27. Allegro
  29. Don Juan: 28. Allegretto
  30. Don Juan: 29. Andante staccato
  31. Don Juan: 30. Larghetto
  32. Don Juan: 31. Allegro non troppo
  33. Semiramis: Sinfonia. Maestoso
  34. Semiramis: 1. Andante
  35. Semiramis: 2. Allegro
  36. Semiramis: 3. Moderato
  37. Semiramis: 4. Moderato,Grazioso
  38. Semiramis: 5. Moderato
  39. Semiramis: 6. Maestoso
  40. Semiramis: 6. Grazioso
  41. Semiramis: 7. Maestoso
  42. Semiramis: 9a-b. Affettuoso - Affettuoso
  43. Semiramis: 10. Adagio-Pigio
  44. Semiramis: 11. Affettuoso
  45. Semiramis: 12. Adagio
  46. Semiramis: 13. Allegro maestoso
  47. Semiramis: 14. Adagio-Allegro
  48. Semiramis: 15. Allegro assai

Amazon.com

Gluck made his reputation as one of opera's great reformers. He was the 18th century's Wagner, an artist who fought against the tyranny of the singer in order to establish a more unified conception of opera in which each element was subservient to the composer's dramatic plan. But what made this radical concept work was a much more positive role for the orchestra, and it's a quality you can hear very clearly in these two ballets. The final scene of Don Juan, depicting his descent into hell, had a direct effect on Mozart when he wrote Don Giovanni. It's the first representation of real terror in music. This then is an important disc historically, but even better, it's highly entertaining musically. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Orchestral Treats from an Operatic Great.......2002-12-18

At mid-price, this CD represents a considerable bargain. I recalled this very special music from a now out-of-print Decca recording with Marriner and the SMFO, and I remember the performance as being especially suave and polished, as usual with these artists. Weil's top-notch period band brings, instead of suavity, raw energy and eclat. Gluck is the winner, I think--and so are we. From the buoyant Sinfonia to the dark, hurtling Chaconne portraying the terrors of Hell, this is music of much resourcefulness.

The Chaconne finale, by the way, is lifted right out of Gluck's own Orfeo ed Euridice, but as H. C. Robbins Landon points out in his characteristically informative notes, it was the Don Juan finale that introduced German music to the Sturm und Drang movement in art. Chief among Gluck's imitators were Haydn and Mozart, no less. So Gluck's music is not only highly entertaining but of historical significance as well.

Among other highlights are the gracious Gavotte (No. 7) and the Moderato (No. 19), a fandago in which keening, scalewise passages in the second violins slice through the orchestral fabric like the proverbial tocsin in the night--great stuff!

Sermiramis is shorter and not quite so distinguished, but check out the grand Maestoso (No. 8) with its trumpets and drums or the very affecting pair of dances marked Affetuoso (No. 9a & b).

As I said, the performances are as exciting as the music, and the sound is big and bright. In fact, the piercing clarino trumpets may need to be tamed a bit in playback on your system. But you'll appreciate the chilling rasp the old trombones lend to the Don Juan Larghetto (No. 30) and finale (No. 31). Latch on to this one, lovers of the Classical era in music!

Track Listings:

  1. Guillaume Dufay: Cathedral Sounds (Magnificat, Hymni, Motetti)
  2. Haydn: Cello Concertos Nos. 1 & 2/Kraft: Cello Concert Op.4 [Import]
  3. Haydn: Mass in F major; Mass in C major
  4. Heifetz Rediscovered [Original recording remastered]
  5. Herbert Howells: Hymnus Paradisi/An English Mass
  6. Kodaly: Missa Brevis; Laudes Organi
  7. Ligeti: Requiem Aventures Nouvelles Aventures
  8. Lotte Lenya Sings American & Berlin Theater Songs of Kurt Weill
  9. Mahler: Symphony No.6 [Import]
  10. Mendelssohn: Concerto for violin in Em; Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto Op35

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

Life

Sing Me to Sleep

The Dirty Boogie

Piano Passion

Your Murder Mixtape

The Best of the 5th Dimension [Import]

The Light in the Piazza (2005 Original Broadway Cast)

Strange Things Are Happening

Somebody to Love

Schütz: Christmas Vespers / McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort and Players

Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia [Original recording remastered] [Import]

Presumida

Regreso del Zancudo Loco

Flavor Unit

Anything Else But the Truth