Adam: Le Diable a Quatre; Overtures (CD)

No conductor working in the recording studios in the 1960s and beyond did more than Richard Bonynge to recover the sound of the 19th-century ballet, especially in its home of the Paris Opéra-Comique. A central figure in that culture was Adolphe Adam who supplied vaudevilles, ballets, pastiches and comic operas over the course of three prolific decades.

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Made in 1964 with the luxurious support of the London Symphony Orchestra and the legendary Decca producer Christopher Raeburn behind the glass. The Decca recording team captured the delicious, piquant colours of this music – conveyed with such flair by Bonynge – in vivid detail.

This new anthology includes the overture from "Le Toréador" as one of the substantial bonus items to a little known two-act ballet, "Le Diable à quatre". Opening this new collection are two overtures from even more obscure productions, "Giralda" and "La Poupée de Nuremburg". These were serendipitously recorded as part of an album of French Romantic Overtures with the New Philharmonia Orchestra in March 1969.

TRACK LIST

ADOLPHE ADAM
Giralda: Overture
La Poupée de Nuremberg: Overture
New Philharmonia Orchestra

Le Toréador:
Overture
Entr’acte
Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera

Le Diable à quatre
London Symphony Orchestra

Richard Bonynge