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Title: A truly terrifying La Valse
Review: This was one of my first classical discs which I bought in 1963. It trumpeted the RCA Dynagroove process, had Bolero on the first side and Pavane and La Valse on the other side. This CD now includes Rapsodie Espagnole and Mother Goose, both recorded in the late 1950s. All of the pieces would be fine first choices for a basic library. The Bolero is powerful with Munch adding extra drums for the finale, though Munch speeds up the tempo during the piece. The Pavane is a rather quick runthrough, but James Stagliano's horn solo is quite beautiful. The CD's biggest selling point is the La Valse. As Munch conducts it, this has to be one of the most terrifying pieces ever composed, up there with Bartok's Miraculous Mandarin and Stravinsky's Le Sacre de Printemps. The BSO is right there with him all the way. Both the Rapsodie and the Mother Goose are quite beautiful. As usual, Richard Mohr and Lewis Layton did a marvelous job of recording these pieces.
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