Santtu Conducts Sleeping Beauty

The young Finnish conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali offers a unique selection of dances from Tchaikovsky’s evergreen Sleeping Beauty. Many will share his enthusiasm for such highlights as the Act I waltz—which benefits here from the Philharmonia’s superb string playing—or the enchanting “Panorama” from Act II. Yet Rouvali also highlights less celebrated moments, such as the Act II “Pas d’Action – Scène d’Aurore et de Désiré,” which provides an opportunity for the Philharmonia’s principal cellist to shine in a tenderly expressive solo, immediately followed by “Variation d’Aurore,” another solo showcase, this time for the principal oboist. Rouvali also highlights the vast range and sometimes sheer strangeness of Tchaikovsky’s expressive palette and use of instrumental colour, perhaps most strikingly when he has “Panorama” immediately followed by the feline yowling of the woodwind in “Le chat botté et la chatte blanche” (“Puss in Boots and the White Cat”—Track 7). There are, of course, many ways to summarize and streamline Tchaikovsky’s ballet, but it would be hard to find any that are better and more lovingly played than this one.