It’s good to see Naxos reissuing some of its Marco Polo ballet rarities. Adolphe Adam’s La Filleule des fées (The Fairies’ God-daughter) is a delightful, full-length pastoral ballet. You don’t want to know the plot. There are good and bad fairies, a horny god-daughter, lots of rustic atmosphere, and everyone dances a lot. What matters is that the music is consistently captivating. The booklet note says “as good as Giselle,” and depending on just how good you think Giselle is, it’s hard to disagree.
Indeed, Adam’s tunes are uniformly lovely, colorfully scored, and the only problem I see is that each major number has to come to one of those grand, tonic and dominant cadential formulas that makes the ballet sound like it’s always ending–except it isn’t. Once past that, however, you get a solid two hours of pure enjoyment. Andrew Mogrelia conducts with his usual expertise, and the Queensland Symphony plays with confidence and, where required, real panache. The 1996 sonics are just fine. Welcome back!
