Symphonic Vignettes, Vol. 15

Magic is not the personal property of performers who whimsically pull bouquets of roses from silken handkerchiefs. Magic belongs in the lives of all who are able to hear musical sounds and consequently revel in the infinitely beautiful world of themes and rhythms. In this album of ‘Symphonic Vignettes, Vol. 15’ the New World Symphony Orchestra opens the golden doors of melodic magic. Splendid panoramas rapidly take shape... transporting you from a masterful, fast-moving selection, Symphony On A French Mountain Air, Finale – alive with clashing cymbals and forceful piano passages – straight into the thrilling, adventure-filled Arabian Nights of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Festival At Bagdad, where marble palaces and the hubbub of the teeming market place throb in the enchanted ripple of tambourines and agile, sensuous violins. Then, with the flourish of a swirling musical cape, the setting changes to one of pastoral tranquility halfway across the globe, in the heart of the Ozarks At Sunset. All the peaceful and gentle simplicity of the rolling hillside is echoed softly by this sensitive orchestral interpretation. But magic is also a realm belonging to childhood and the fertile imagination of the young at heart, as demonstrated by the delightful caper of humorous, light-hearted Marionettes, the unusually entertaining symphonic version of Jingle Bells and the gay fantasy-world of My Bouquet Of Dreams. These are but a few of the selections in this truly kaleidoscopic display of musical enchantment, brilliantly performed by the New World Symphony Orchestra under the expert baton-wizardry of Raymond Thomas.