Mastered by Willem Makee from the original master tapes

Antole Fistoulari conducts the Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden performing Sir William Walton's Façade and Charles Alexandre Lecocq's Mamzelle Angot. Working with the Royal Ballet Orchestra in Covent Garden under Fistoulari, engineer Ken Cross and producer Michael Williamson created another Decca/RCA masterpiece. It's hard to know where to begin with a record this good. The top — the high end — of this recording is simply as well recorded as any RCA there is.

Undeniable transparency, snap, detail  and body on cymbals, bells and woodblocks. The same virtues, along with the added virtue of harmonic richness extends into the midrange. Strings are sweet, diaphanous, transparent and a bit bright, without being irritating. Brass and woodwinds — which in this piece carry much of the thematic load — are particularly well reproduced.

Recorded in Walthamstow Assembly Hall
Producer: Michael Williamson
Engineer: Ken Cross

Walton FAÇADE (Suites for Orchestra)

Band 1—Fanfare (Suite 2, No. 1) Scotch Rhapsody (Suite 2, No. 2)

Valse (Suite 1, No. 2)

Band 2—Tango–Pasodoble (Suite 1, No. 4)

Swiss Yodeling Song (Suite 1, No. 3)

Band 3—Country Dance (Suite 2, No. 3) Polka (Suite 1, No. 1)

Noche Espagnole (Suite 2, No. 4)

Band 4—Popular Song (Suite 2, No. 5)

Old Stir Faulk (Suite 2, No. 6)

Tarantella Sevillana (Suite 1, No. 5)

Royal Opera House Orchestra

Covent Garden

Anatole Fistoulari, Conductor

(Recorded in England)

Lecocq

Suite from the Ballet—MAMZELLE ANGOT

(Orchestrated and arranged by Gordon Jacob)

Overture

Act I

No. 3: Mazurka No. 5: Tempo di Marcia

Act II

No. 8: Tempo di Gavotte No. 11

Act III: No. 13: Finale

Royal Opera House Orchestra

Covent Garden

Anatole Fistoulari, Conductor

(Recorded in England)

Walton FAÇADE (Suites for Orchestra)

Band 1—Fanfare (Suite 2, No. 1) Scotch Rhapsody (Suite 2, No. 2)

Valse (Suite 1, No. 2)

Band 2—Tango–Pasodoble (Suite 1, No. 4)

Swiss Yodeling Song (Suite 1, No. 3)

Band 3—Country Dance (Suite 2, No. 3) Polka (Suite 1, No. 1)

Noche Espagnole (Suite 2, No. 4)

Band 4—Popular Song (Suite 2, No. 5)

Old Stir Faulk (Suite 2, No. 6)

Tarantella Sevillana (Suite 1, No. 5)

Royal Opera House Orchestra

Covent Garden

Anatole Fistoulari, Conductor

(Recorded in England)

Lecocq

Suite from the Ballet—MAMZELLE ANGOT

(Orchestrated and arranged by Gordon Jacob)

Overture

Act I

No. 3: Mazurka No. 5: Tempo di Marcia

Act II

No. 8: Tempo di Gavotte No. 11

Act III: No. 13: Finale

Royal Opera House Orchestra

Covent Garden

Anatole Fistoulari, Conductor

(Recorded in England)