Culinnaria Portuguesa

This musical journey takes its title from one of William Corbett's Bizzarie universali, a set of concertos which, in truth, owe much more to the Italian tradition than to the Iberian peninsula . . .

The present release comprises two works by Russian composers of differing generations, in music which has long been central to the repertoire of composer and conductor ?lvaro Cassuto who is heard conducting the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra. Even before the Prokofiev's ballet Romeo and Juliet had made it to the stage, selections were heard in concert on both sides of the Atlantic, and various sequences continue to feature prominently in the orchestral repertoire. Although these sometimes take the guise of one of the three orchestral suites, it has become more common to select freely from across these or even from the overall ballet. Establishing dramatic and musical continuity within this context is more difficult than might be supposed, to which end Cassuto had devised his own selection on this present recording.