Richard Bonynge - Overtures & Ballet Music Of The 19th Century (2000)

Australian conductor and musicologist Richard Bonynge is well known for his success in reclaiming and reviving rare and almost forgotten music of the C19th. Once famous ballets and operas, especially those from France and Italy, have again become accessible. Many of the operas so revived have featured his wife Dame Joan Sutherland.
On this splendid double CD are gathered together a selection of overtures and ballet music from the C19th. If you already have numerous recordings of overtures composed by Rossini and Auber, you will be sure to find here others they composed that are new to you. Indeed, smallish items like these, averaging about 8 minutes and so often recorded in the days of 78s, are under-represented in the age of CDs and DVDs. It is to the Auber overtures that I return, but you will find your own favorites here. Excellent ADD transfers come of late 60s and early 70s recordings.