Salon Orchestra Favourites 1: Light Classics/ Var - Salon Orchestra Favourites 1: Light Classics / Various

Salon music was chiefly music for the grand piano in the salon (or more frequently: the upright piano in the drawing-room) - whether it was arrangements of orchestral works, operas or operatic excerpts, or (as was quite frequently the case) original compositions. Like Rubinstein's Mélodie or Toselli's Serenata, the Tango by Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909) was also composed for piano, as was the Paso doble El relicario by his countryman José Padilla (1889-1960). In all these cases arrangements for other instruments or groups of instruments - arrangements made by the composer himself or by various different arrangers in the course of the decades - were the rule rather than the exception. The consequence of this variety is an astonishing colorfulness of instrumentation. In Leoncavallo's Brise de mer it is the cello that takes the leading role; in contrast, Robert Stolz let's the violin dominate in accordance with the title, whereas Heinrich Strecker's foxtrot Drunt' in der Labau from the operetta Der ewige Walzer ('The Eternal Waltz', first performed in 1928) presents itself in truly symphonic richness of sound, to name just a few examples. For the salon orchestra Schwanen, whose melodic line is characterized by violins and woodwind, special arrangements were made of Arditi's "Kiss Waltz" Il bacio, Riccardo Drrigo's Serenade Harlequin's Millions and Rudolf Sieczynski's declaration of love to his home city of Vienna.