Moniuszko: Ballet Music Warsaw Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra; Antoni Wit

• Stanisław Moniuszko (1819 - 1872):
• 1 Concert Polonaise in A Major 07:51
• 2 Ballet Music from Hrabina: I. Zefir goniący Florę 08:07
• 3 Ballet Music from Hrabina: II. Neptun na Wiśle 04:06
• 4 Ballet Music from Hrabina: III. Taniec Satyrów 03:41
• 5 Ballet Music from Hrabina: IV. Kotyljon 02:17
• 6 Marsz żałobny Antoniego Orłowskiego (Funeral March of Antoni Orłowski) 11:41
• 7 Polonaise in F Major, "Obywatelski" (Civic) 06:07
• 8 Halka: Halka, Act I: Mazurka 04:06
• 9 Halka: Halka, Act III: Tańce góralskie (Highlanders' Dances) 04:55
• 10 Ballet Music for Otto Nicolai's opera The Merry Wives of Windsor 09:38
• 11 Monte Christo: Mazurka 04:37
• 12 Jawnuta: Taniec cygański (Gypsy Dance) 04:31
• 13 Polka, "Leokadia" 01:44
• 14 The Haunted Manor: Straszny Dwór (The Haunted Manor), Act IV: Mazurka 05:16
• Total Runtime 01:18:37

Info for Moniuszko: Ballet Music

Stanislaw Moniuszko was Poland's leading nineteenth-century opera composer, and has been called the man who bridges the gap between Chopin and Szymanowski. In addition to operatic works he also composed purely orchestral music, and this recording reveals that his essentially lyric style could funciton perfectly in the non-vocal medium. There is thematically memorable music from the comic opera Hrabina (The Countess), as well as enduring Polish-flavored dance scenes from his most popular and famous stage work, Halka. The spirited Mazurka from Straszny Dwor (The Haunted Manor), Moniuszko's crowning operatic achievement, draws freely and inventively from his national heritage.

Features a long-time Naxos stalwart, conductor Antoni Wit leading the Warsaw Philharmonic which is considered to be Poland’s leading orchestra.

This album contains orchestra excerpts from Moniszko’s internationally best known opera, Halka. As a critic in 1928 wrote, “no Polish dramatic composer had previously expressed by dance-scenes the Polish national temperament as perfectly as Moniuszko.”

Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra
Antoni Wit, conductor

No biography found.

Booklet for Moniuszko: Ballet Music