R E V I E W S

"Here are two major American ballets, offered complete for the first time. Both come from excellent analogue masters: The Incredible Flutist dates from 1976 and the ballet Cakewalk is more recent (1982). The nicely resonant acoustic of the Louisville Macauley Theatre seems appropriate for both scores. Hershy Kay's Cakewalk draws in the main on the piano music of Louis Gottschalk, but other material is added, including traditional American minstrel tunes and in one number there is even a whiff of Stephen Foster. It is all wittily done...The conductor Akira Endo has worked with the American Ballet Theatre and he displays the right flexible rhythmic touch for Kay's dry witticisms, and an obvious affection for the music.
Both here and in The Incredible Flutist the Louisville Orchestra play with vigour and finesse as well as commitment...Jorge Mester, Musical Director of the Louisville Orchestra at the time of the recording, is completely at home in Piston's score and makes the very best of its Spanishry as well as its atmosphere. An auspicious start for a very promising new venture."
- Ivan March, THE GRAMOPHONE