Johann Strauss II (1825-1899)
Le Beau Danube Bleu, op. 314

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847)
Marche nuptiale, op. 61 n° 7

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Extraits de "Peer Gynt", op. 46 n° 1

Johannes Brahms (1833(1897)
Danse hongroise n° 1 en sol mineur

Burhan Öçal (1953-)
Oriental Dreams

Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)
Barcarole, extraits de "Les Contes d'Hoffmann"

George Gershwin (1898-1937)
Rhapsody in Blue

Piotr Ilyitch Tchiakovski (1840-1893)
Trepak, extrait de "Casse-noisette", op. 71

Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
Les Toréadors, extrait de "Carmen"

Josef Strauss (1827-1870)
Polka "Happy Go Lucky", op. 271

Giulietta Koch, piano
Burhan Öçal, percussion
Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt
Istanbul Oriental Ensemble
Howard Griffiths, direction

Morning from Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite belongs in this collection as much as Johannes Brahms’s Hungarian Dances: It is music for eternity. This is also valid for the hand-picked pieces that have been compiled for this CD carrying the name of the Happy Go Lucky (Ohne Sorgen) Polka by Josef Strauss. Popular music everyone likes to hear – especially in these youthful and fresh interpretations by the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt under the inspired direction of Howard Griffiths. This is a feast for the ears for both the enthusiast of popular symphonic music with the waltz The Blue Danube (An der schönen blauen Donau) by Johann Strauss II, as well as the connoisseur of classical works – in addition to passages taken from Georges Bizet’s Carmen, the Wedding March (Hochzeitsmarsch) from Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sommernachtstraum) as well as works by Jacques Offenbach and Peter Tchaikovsky. Swinging rhythms can be enjoyed with Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin and world music by Burhan Öçal.