Night at the Ballet

The great Russian-born conductor Anatole Fistoulari, affectionately known as 'Fisty' to his friends, was a stalwart of the British recording studios from the 1940s through to the 1970s and was a master interpreter of ballet music and Russian ballet music in particular. He was also a noted conductor of Tchaikovsky and the Russian School, as well as romantic and impressionistic French music. Besides his ballet recordings, Fistoulari conducted many well-known singers on record including Jan Peerce, Inge Borkh, Victoria de los Ángeles, and Boris Christoff, pianists like Edwin Fischer, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Clifford Curzon, and Shura Cherkassky, as well as violinists such as Yehudi Menuhin and Nathan Milstein. This album includes the first complete modern release of his 1950 Decca LP of Gounod's Faust ballet music, Thomas's Mignon overture and Dance of the Hours from Ponchielli's La Gioconda. It also includes excerpts from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty ballets.