Massenet: Le Cid (Ballet Music), Scenes pittoresques; Saint-Saens: The Swan, Wedding Cake / Paul Tortelier, Yan Pascal Tortelier, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Louis Fremaux / EMI Classics

Massenet: Le Cid (Ballet Music), Scenes pittoresques; Saint-Saens: The Swan, Wedding Cake / Paul Tortelier, Yan Pascal Tortelier, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Louis Fremaux / EMI Classics Audio CD 2003 Stereo UPC 724357587020   Le Cid is an opera in four acts and ten tableaux by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet, Édouard Blau and Adolphe d'Ennery. It is based on the play of the same name by Pierre Corneille. It was first performed by a star-studded cast at the Paris Opéra on 30 November 1885 in the presence of President Grévy, with Jean de Reszke as Rodrigue. The staging was directed by Pedro Gailhard, with costumes designed by Comte Lepic, and sets by Eugène Carpezat (act 1), Enrico Robecchi and his student Amable (act 2), Auguste Alfred Rubé, Philippe Chaperon and their students Marcel Jambon (act 3), and Jean-Baptiste Lavastre (act 4). The opera had been seen 150 times by 1919 but faded from the repertory and was not performed again in Paris until the 2015 revival at the Palais Garnier. While Le Cid is not in the standard operatic repertory, the ballet suite is a popular concert and recording piece which includes dances from different regions of Spain. It was specially created by Massenet for the prima ballerina Rosita Mauri. An opera on the subject had been composed by Sacchini, Il Cid, for London in 1783, and from 1890 to 1892 Debussy worked on, but did not complete, an opera Rodrigue et Chimène also based on Corneille.   Label: EMI – 724357587020 Format: CD, Album, Stereo Country: Europe Released:   2003 Genre: Classical Style: Classical     Tracklist: Jules Massenet (1842-1912)1-7  Le Cid (Ballet Music)    19:30 8-11  Scenes pittoresques   17:26 12  The Last Sleep of the Virgin   4:42   Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921)13 The Swan (from Carnival of the Animals)a   2:3514 Allegro appassionato, 0p.43a   3:5215 Caprice for Violin & Orchestra, Op.52 (orch. Ysaye)b  8:1116 Le Déluge — Prelude, Op.45b    8:1517 ‘Wedding Cake’ — Caprice Valse, Op.76c    6:48        Cello - Paul Tortelier Violin - Yan Pascal Tortelier, Maria de la Pau Orchestra - City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Conducted by - Louis Fremaux

Massenet: Le Cid (Ballet Music), Scenes pittoresques; Saint-Saens: The Swan, Wedding Cake / Paul Tortelier, Yan Pascal Tortelier, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Louis Fremaux / EMI Classics

Music genre	Christian