Music for Ballet Classes Volume Two
Charles Mathews
If you’re a ballet class regular, chances are you’ve plié-d and rond de jambe-d through this CD before. If you’re a teacher and haven’t added it to your collection yet, you should.
Music for Ballet Classes Volume Two takes dancers through a range of emotions–yearning, to pensive, to lighthearted–that help encourage expressiveness. For my own practice, I felt that the slower, more reflective pieces most enhanced my movement and that delightful feeling of being so guided by music that you become lost in it.
Arrangements include selections from opera, classic ballets, non-ballet classical music, and original compositions by Matthews.
Some of my favorites include Beethoven’s serene “2nd Movement Sonata Op. 13” for warmup at barre, the grand and wistful “Intermezzo” from Cavalleria Rusticana for plié, and the tender ache of Puccini’s “O Mia Babbino Caro” for port de bras.
Yes, I’d have to say this album brought out more of my inner Swan than Swanhilda. And that’s lots of fun!
