Minnesota Orchestra & Eiji Oue - Exotic Dances from the Opera (2012) [Hi-Res]

Because opera unites the arts, it has always been the most ravishing and extravagant entertainment. And from the very beginning of operatic theater,which is rooted in the choral dances of the Greeks, the spectacle of dance has commanded a significant place in the opera house, whether integrated into the drama or offered as a casual diversion.

Ballet, the older art of the two, has played its role in opera ever since nymphs and shepherds cavorted on the Baroque stage. Conditioned by Jean Baptiste Lully,the guiding spirit of the dance at the Court of Louis XIV, and later by Rameau, operagoers in France expected dance as a matter of course. In the following century, the Paris Opéra observed an unwritten law that the second act of an opera must feature a ballet episode. Even Wagner was forced to obey this stricture. The fusion of opera and dance peaked in the nineteenth century, whose repertoire has generated this collection of exotic pieces—both familiar and obscure—but each capable of standing alone as an orchestral experience.

Favorites and rarities, including Saint-Saëns: Bacchanale, Strauss: Dance of the Seven Veils, and Rabaud: Dances from Marouf. 'Both discs represent triumphs of artistry -- musical and technical.' (InTune)

Minnesota Orchestra
Eiji Oue, conductor

Recorded January 18-20, 1996 at Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis MN
Produced by J. Tamblyn Henderson, Jr.
Engineered by Keith O. Johnson
Produced by Rik Malone
Executive Producers: Marcia Gordon Martin, JTH
Mastering at Paul Stubblebine, JTH at Rocket Lab, San Francisco