Name: Music For Ballet Class 2, Ayumi Hirusaki

Review: Truthfully, I might have considered buying this CD just for the cover art. The lovely picture of a ballerina at the barre is as engaging as the music within.

This CD features Ayumi Hirusaki, the main pianist at the National Opera of Tokyo, and it is the second of two CDs designed specifically for ballet class. (The first is simply “Music For Ballet Class“.)

There are arrangements of music from composers such as Gershwin, Minkus, Prokopiev and Joplin here, and the variety helps keep things interesting. Hirusaki also includes improvisations on the CD. Once you hear the music, there can be little doubt that she is an accomplished musician.

If you are wondering what the music sounds like, you can listen to short samples of the music on this CD on the Mediaphorie website to see if it would work for your class. (One of the nice things about the web is the days of buying a CD without having any idea what is on it are pretty much over.)

The barre is a pretty straightforward one, and the centre tracks offer music for tendus, an adagio, allegro and more. The music here is probably too “grown up” for a children’s class, but would work well for higher levels or adult ballet classes. I’ve used it in my class and the students enjoyed it–it offers a break from the typical “routine” barre music that is out there.

It’s nice to have options, and this is a good CD to have in your rotation.