Goldsbrough Orchestra
(Leader, Emanuel Hurwitz)
Conducted by Charles Mackerras

Richard Strauss's incidental music to Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme was written for a production of Moliere's comedy at Stuttgart in 1912, when the first version of Straussopera Ariadne auf Naxos was also presented. ostensibly to entertain M. Jourdan. This unique combination of play and opera was broadcast from the Edinburgh Festival three years ago, under the direction of Sir Thomas Beecham, who introduced it to London in 1913. Last month the second version of the opera was broadcast from Glyndebourne: this has a Prologue in place of Moliere's play. At Glyndebourne, however, the delightful 'Suite from Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme played as an orchestral introduction to the opera...
(Harold Rutland)