Evening, Rodders....Yesterday I received a copy of the DVD mentioned elsewhere. 110 Minutes!! As a concert performance, the theatrical nature of the ballet music is eschewed and there is the narration but I can live with that. I suppose it's the nearest thing there is to a complete realisation of the work. But this Geoffrey Simon version of the suite is still, for me, the benchmark....
I think you're right about the Geoffrey Simon recording. His was the first performance of the Suite to be recorded but there have been a few others since. I've just been listening again and Simon really does go to town. For example, he uses huge bass drums for the 'War Dance' while the German DVD percussionist uses a side-drum and very weak it sounds too! Simon and the Philharmonia's 'Orgiastic Dance' also beats the competition, so hopefully Rodders' upload here will soon get lots more "views"!
This is wonderful! It's good to hear the less well-known music of this composer. Apparently there is a BluRay/DVD version of the complete ballet available but it does have spoken narration interrupting the music. I'm not sure of the record label so I'm relying on hearsay.
The Swiss conductor Adriano replied to an email enquiry from me some years ago that Marco Polo had planned to record Belkis as part of its Respighi series but that was shelved (against Adriano's wishes) in favour of the film music series he was recording at the time.
A concert performance of the complete work has been released on a DVD video by "dreyer gaido", played by the Stuttgart Philharmonic under Gabriel Feltz. The title carries the German translation: "Belkis, Konigin von Saba" and the catalogue number is DVD 21079. I've uploaded just the finale here - the "Orgiastic Dance" - a kind of 'sampler' of the whole performance! ... ua-cam.com/video/MlE7sSpEFQU/v-deo.html
Evening, Rodders....Yesterday I received a copy of the DVD mentioned elsewhere. 110 Minutes!! As a concert performance, the theatrical nature of the ballet music is eschewed and there is the narration but I can live with that. I suppose it's the nearest thing there is to a complete realisation of the work. But this Geoffrey Simon version of the suite is still, for me, the benchmark....
Morning Max. Thanks very much for mentioning that (I had not seen the comment from adam28xx.) I have now ordered the DVD as well...
I think you're right about the Geoffrey Simon recording. His was the first performance of the Suite to be recorded but there have been a few others since. I've just been listening again and Simon really does go to town. For example, he uses huge bass drums for the 'War Dance' while the German DVD percussionist uses a side-drum and very weak it sounds too! Simon and the Philharmonia's 'Orgiastic Dance' also beats the competition, so hopefully Rodders' upload here will soon get lots more "views"!
adam28xx , Once again, many thanks for the information regarding the DVD which is really rather good! It took a while, but I eventually got my copy!!
Entrance
2:00 | 2:20 | 3:01 | 3:34
Finale and Celebration
20:50 | 21:05 | 21:27 | 21:50
This is wonderful! It's good to hear the less well-known music of this composer. Apparently there is a BluRay/DVD version of the complete ballet available but it does have spoken narration interrupting the music. I'm not sure of the record label so I'm relying on hearsay.
The Swiss conductor Adriano replied to an email enquiry from me some years ago that Marco Polo had planned to record Belkis as part of its Respighi series but that was shelved (against Adriano's wishes) in favour of the film music series he was recording at the time.
Rodders I'm sure it will appear in its complete version some day! Er, I hope so, at least!
It is probably the only major work of Respighi still to be recorded as I believe all of his operas are now commercially available.
A concert performance of the complete work has been released on a DVD video by "dreyer gaido", played by the Stuttgart Philharmonic under Gabriel Feltz. The title carries the German translation: "Belkis, Konigin von Saba" and the catalogue number is DVD 21079. I've uploaded just the finale here - the "Orgiastic Dance" - a kind of 'sampler' of the whole performance! ... ua-cam.com/video/MlE7sSpEFQU/v-deo.html
adam28xx, Thank you for that information and the clip. Much appreciated!
The last movement sounds like a battle or chase scene from a 40’s or 50’s film.