Milhaud: Le Boeuf sur le toit, Op. 58

Bernstein’s performances of Milhaud are full of affection and his French orchestra is easy-going in style and silky in sound. The coupling is Milhaud’s joyful 1956 recording of the complete Saudades do Brasil, of which Bernstein recorded only four dances.’ (The Gramophone)

“Bernstein's buoyantly jazzy readings of La Création dy monde and Le Boeuf su le toit are yoked here with Milhaud's inimitably atmospheric 1956 recording of Saudades do Brasil, 12 brief depictions of districts in Rio, recorded in Hollywood.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2006 *****

“Milhaud was an inveterate traveller who absorbed influences from many national styles.
The music here exudes infectious dance impulses, languid geniality, knockabout humour and joie de vivre. It may inhabit a limited expressive sphere, but providing you don't expect introspection or searching profundity you won't be disappointed. There's enjoyment at every turn, whether in the foot-tapping 'Brazileira', the Satie-esque simplicity of the 'Valse' from Lessonges, or the breezy music-hall atmosphere of Le boeuf sur le toit, with its wonderfully imaginative piano writing. The performances are exemplary.
Stephen Coombs and Artur Pizarro both enjoy the byways of the piano repertory, and, even if Pizarro is the more starry soloist, they're well matched as a duo. Coombs's top part is suitably bright and sharply lit, and is offset by Pizarro's more subtle colouring. They revel in the protracted playfulness of Le boeuf sur le toit, where their feeling for Hispanic exoticism is matched by their virtuosity. The recorded sound is excellent.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“An entertaining and delightful issue which brings some high-spirited pianism from these fine players.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“Here is 1920s French music directed by a conductor who's completely in the spirit of it, and plenty of spirit there is, too. Except for Ibert's Divertissement, this is ballet music. Poulenc's suite from Les biches, written for Diaghilev's ballet company and first heard in Monte Carlo, is fresh and bouncy and stylishly played here, although Chandos's warm recording, good though it's, takes some edge off the trumpet tone; the genial nature of it all makes us forget that it's a unique mix of 18th-century galanterie, Tchaikovskian lilt and Poulenc's own inimitable street-Parisian sophistication and charm. As for Ibert's piece, this is uproariously funny in an unbuttoned way, and the gorgeously vulgar trombone in the Waltz and frantic police whistle in the finale are calculated to make you laugh out loud. Milhaud's Le boeufsur le toit also has Parisian chic and was originally a kind of music-hall piece, composed to a scenario by Cocteau. It was while attending a performance of it in London in 1920 that the composer first heard the American jazz orchestra that, together with a later experience of New Orleans jazzmen playing 'from the darkest corners of the Negro soul' (as he later expressed it), prompted him to compose his masterly ballet La création du monde.
Tortelier and his orchestra understand this strangely powerful music no less than the other pieces. This is a most desirable disc.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“a splendid, modern, digital version of Ibert's sparklingly witty Divertissement. Verve is combined with much delicacy of detail” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition