09. Antonin Dvorak - Slavonic Dance in C major, op.72 no.7 [3'05]
10. - 16. *Jules Massenet - Le Cid. Ballet Music [18'14]
17. - 24. *Giacomo Meyerbeer (orch. Constant Lambert) Les Patineurs. Ballet [20'38]
London Symphony Orchestra and *Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jean Martinon
Decca Eloquence Australia 476 2742 (recorded October 1959 and *May 1958; CD issued 2004)
(flac and scans)
Recording venues: Kingsway Hall, London and *Mann Auditorium, Tel Aviv
Recording engineers: Kenneth Wilkinson and *James Brown; Producers: Michael Williamson and *John Culshaw
But there is something of a mystery about this release of superb performances and recordings. Jean Martinon was in his element for this dance music. Why he did not record the rest of Dvorak's op.72, I can't imagine. And the Dvorak was originally recorded by a Decca team for RCA (at a time when there was a tie-up between the two companies) and issued as a Living Stereo "Shaded Dog" LP - now very rare. Rights have now reverted to Decca but for some reason, Eloquence are secretive about the engineer and producer for the Dvorak but they are well known to be Kenneth Wilkinson and Michael Williamson. Strange that Universal don't want to admit to their famous production team. Whatever, the recording quality is superb and the Tel Aviv recordings are almost as fine. I'm not sure that the Dvorak Dances were ever issued in the UK on LP and this is their first issue on CD as far as I am aware.
The glittering performance of Le Cid is followed by Constant Lambert's deft arrangements of music from Le Prophète and l'Etoile du Nord in performances selected by Pingu Guide as one of their top 1000 recordings of all time. These Massenet and Meyerbeer recordings have also appeared in Decca's complete Martinon recordings boxed set.
As an aside, Kenneth Wilkinson engineered quite a number of Kingsway Hall recordings for RCA including the Previn Nielsen Symphony No.1 and his Vaughan Williams Symphonies, Pierre Monteux's Elgar Enigma and Sibelius Symphony No.2, Martinon's Prokofiev Symphony No.7 and Alexander Gibson's Witches Brew.