Album

While the films highlighted on Volume 1 of Naxos' Classics at the Movies: Comedy certainly had their moments of hilarity, the music that accompanied those instances are essentially straightforward classical pieces by composers such as Mozart, Handel, Bach, and Rachmaninov. This doesn't make the album bad; indeed, it functions well as a collection of popular classical compositions. It just has little to do with the films represented. Only Ravel's "Bolero"—which played such a memorable role in the hilarious Dudley Moore/Bo Derek seduction scene in 10—has any real resonance as being from a specific film. For example, Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" is included as part of the soundtrack to Four Weddings and a Funeral, but isn't the piece better known in its real-life capacity? Pickiness aside, this set is sufficient enough musically, with strong performances by an assortment of orchestras and soloists throughout the album, with pianist Kathryn Selby and the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra delivering a particularly jaunty version of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue."

© Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide

CD 1
George Frideric Handel Composer Solomon, HWV67 Work Capella Istropolitana Ensemble, Jozef Kopelman Conductor
1	Arrival of the Queen of Sheeba (as used in "Four Weddings and a Funeral")	3:31			$0.99
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Composer A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op.61 Work Bertalan Hock Organ
2	10.Fanfare and Funeral March	6:15			$0.99
Sergey Vasilyevich Rachmaninov Composer Piano Concerto No.2 in C-, Op.18 Work Budapest Symphony Orchestra Orchestra, Jenö Jandó Piano, György Lehel Conductor
3	1.Moderato	11:14			$1.99
Johann Sebastian Bach Composer Keyboard Concerto in F-, BWV1056 Work Hae-Won Chang Piano, Robert Stankovsky Conductor, Camerata Cassovia Orchestra
4	2.Largo	2:54			$0.99
Giacomo Puccini Composer Manon Lescaut (opera)...Act 4 Work Alexander Rahbari Conductor, BRT Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra, Miriam Gauci Vocals
5	5.Sola, perduta, abbandonata	4:56			$0.99
George Gershwin Composer Rhapsody in Blue, for piano and jazz orchestra Work Richard Hayman Conductor, Kathryn Selby Piano, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra
6	Rhapsody in Blue, for piano and jazz orchestra	17:02			$2.99
Jacques Offenbach Composer Orphée aux Enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld; opera)...Tableau 4 Work Johannes Wildner Conductor, Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra Kosice Orchestra
7	6.Ce bal est original (The Can-Can)	5:26			$0.99
Giacomo Puccini Composer Madama Butterfly (opera)...Act 2 Work Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra Bratislava Orchestra, Alexander Rahbari Conductor, Miriam Gauci Vocals
8	2.Un bel dì verdremo	4:43			$0.99
Maurice Ravel Composer Boléro (ballet) Work Adrian Leaper Conductor, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra
9	Boléro (ballet)	13:36			$2.49