The enterprising Marco Polo label, having already embarked on a complete survey of the dance music of Johann Strauss II, which has at present reached Vol. 32 (!), now turns to the waltz output of his French contemporary, Emile Waldteufel. Like Strauss, the Frenchman also came from a family of musicians who devoted themselves to the dance music of the time, but Emile's father, Louis and brother, Leon—unlike Strauss's father and brothers—are forgotten. The Waldteufel family hailed from Alsace and Emile was born in Strasbourg. His orchestra played in the Tuileries for Napoleon III's court balls, and his waltzes, exporting well, soon became familiar at Buckingham Palace and were enjoyed by Queen Victoria.
The waltzes, all reliably tuneful, are freshly scored and the polkas are jolly and entertaining as all good dance music should be. To listen to these pieces nine at a time, as is possible on these four generously filled CDs, cannot quite match the experience of a comparable concert of music from the Strauss family (whose output is altogether richer in romantic feeling, with melodies and harmony which together quite transcend the dance medium): the nobility of the Emperor Waltz is not found in the French composer's Gallic vocabulary. Yet Waldteufel's music has grace and charm, its scoring, if less sumptuous in effect than the languorous decadence of the Viennese idiom, is very like that of French ballet music and its lilt is undeniable.
The first CD opens with the most famous waltz, Les patineurs, and Waldteufel provides—in the manner of Johann—a slow introduction, in this case a poetic horn solo (once played incomparably by Dennis Brain on a Philharmonia record). It is well done here, and the approach of the Slovak Orchestra is refreshingly direct. Alfred Walter can turn a phrase nicely and his nuances of rubato are never self-consciously exaggerated. Dans les bois, the polka-mazurka which follows, has another charming tune, and the robustness of the rhythm is well calculated. The Chantilly Waltz then opens with a brass chorale and Bien aimes with a fanfare and a cheerful march. Both these introductions (in which Waldteufel is consistently resourceful) give way to a flowing tune, a pattern that is also noteworthy in Hommage aux dames. The first disc ends with the lively and familiar Estudiantina with its Spanish castanets.
Highlights on disc two include the charming Dans les nuages (a very characteristic main idea, like Les patineurs) and the highly successful Chabrier-crib, Espana. After the elegant Tout-Paris, the flutes open Fontaine lumineuse most fetchingly and Ange d'amour has another very striking principal idea, well matched by Soiree d'ete which begins disc three. Pluie de diamants, with plenty of vitality, is more familiar, as is the sparkling Tres jolie, another popular favourite. The fourth disc starts with Zig-zag, a characterful polka featuring a solo cornet, while the horns introduce Les fleurs which produces yet another of the composer's best singing melodies. The opening of Solitude is predictably delicate and Fleurs et baisers has a comparable charm. Yet another cornet solo begins Toujours fidele, but the strings join him when the main waltz gets under way. L'esprit francais, a very gay French polka with a whiff of Offenbach, then makes a good foil for the two final waltzes: Toujours ou jamais, with its opening clarinet solo and a good tune, and Hebe which is echt-Straussian in its melodic contour.
Anyone wanting to explore this music should start with disc four, almost all of which is unfamiliar and mostly out of the composer's top drawer. Although the catalogue is not over-supplied with Waldteufel it is possible to find rather more individual accounts of some of this repertoire, but the playing throughout these performances has finesse as well as vigour and the recording is well balanced in an agreeable ambience.'