Various Composers - Symphonic Ballets (Felix Ardanaz)

Information

• Claude Debussy - Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, L. 86
• Maurice Ravel - La valse, M. 72
• Maria Eugenia Luc - Argia eta Itzala
• Igor Stravinsky - The Firebird (L'oiseau de feu) - Suite (1919)

BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Felix Ardanaz, conductor

Date: 2025

Label: Orpheus Classical

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This album documents Spanish conductor Félix Ardanaz leading the BBC National Orchestra in Symphonic Ballets, a program highlighting major 20th-century works for the genre. It features Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Ravel’s La Valse, and Stravinsky’s The Firebird, each representing a different facet of orchestral color and ballet-inspired symphonic writing. The release also includes the world premiere recording of Argia eta Itzala, a symphonic ballet by Italian-Argentine composer María Eugenia Luc, adding a contemporary voice to the collection and extending the tradition of dance-influenced orchestral music into the present.

Felix Ardanaz is a Spanish conductor admired for vivid performances across symphonic, operatic, and contemporary music. Educated in the Basque Country, Warsaw, Paris, London, and Vienna, with further training at Aspen, Tanglewood, and the Chigiana Academy, he studied under prominent mentors including Christoph Eschenbach and Robert Spano. He has led major ensembles such as the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra, ORTVE, Prague Philharmonia, and London Sinfonietta, and has appeared in leading venues from the Berlin Philharmonie and Carnegie Hall to the Musikverein and Wigmore Hall. His discography spans six albums, and he has earned numerous international awards and distinctions.

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