“Whoever had the idea for this compilation of up-tempo, up-mood pieces should get a medal. I can assure you that if you’re in a blue, sad, dour, grumpy, ill-humored, saturnine mood, this CD will cure it. Of course, whoever thought of this CD also gets a medal for recycling music from more than 20 prior releases by the Delos label, harvesting these bright and sassy pieces and putting them together in a sampler. We have everything here from three dance movements by J.S. Bach to an Irish jig to Shchedrin’s reorchestration of the bolero from Bizet’s Carmen to the most amazing performance of the final movement of Hummel’s Trumpet Concerto by the then young trumpeter Gerard Schwarz, now familiar as long-time conductor of the Seattle Symphony. There are a couple selections played by a Russian balalaika ensemble that are goofily cheerful…for mood-lifting background music, this disc is pretty much a winner.” — Scott Morrison (Amazon Hall of Fame, Top 100 Reviewer, and Vine Voice member)
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