Even those who are moderately familiar with Johann Strauss' stage works apart from Die Fledermaus are unlikely to have heard of Jabuka (The Apple Festival), a merry effort from 1894 that Strauss introduced during a time when Vienna was celebrating the 50th anniversary of his first concert there; he would live only five years more. Before this Naxos effort, recorded between 2005 and 2007 and guided by the knowledgeable hand of Christian Pollack, this work has certainly never been recorded outside of the potpourris and ...
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Even those who are moderately familiar with Johann Strauss' stage works apart from Die Fledermaus are unlikely to have heard of Jabuka (The Apple Festival), a merry effort from 1894 that Strauss introduced during a time when Vienna was celebrating the 50th anniversary of his first concert there; he would live only five years more. Before this Naxos effort, recorded between 2005 and 2007 and guided by the knowledgeable hand of Christian Pollack, this work has certainly never been recorded outside of the potpourris and quadrilles derived from it; it is unlikely to have been seen on-stage between its 1894 premiere and the 2003 revival on which this recording is based. Pop in the disc and you'll immediately be struck by a weird feeling; did Naxos get the right composer on this thing? Isn't this Smetana or someone like that? Indeed, the resemblance is very close, and it is no ironic coincidence that librettist Max Kalbeck translated the Czech text of "The Bartered Bride" into German for its first...
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