The most exciting part of many concerts and recitals is the section at the end when the performer rewards the applause of the audience with one or more additional pieces. This album contains a number of favourite encores for solo instruments, as well as orchestral works and vocal pieces, performed at the end of many such concerts. The first disc opens with the excitingRonde des lutins by Bazzini, played with dazzling virtuosity by the violinist Maxim Vengerov, and continues with favourite violin encores by Paganini, Kreisler and Massenet. These are followed by popular piano encores by Chopin, Liszt and Debussy and the CD ends with encore pieces for a range of other instruments including the cello, the trumpet and the guitar, and comes to a rousing conclusion with the Widor 'Toccata' played on the organ of Coventry Cathedral by Wayne Marshall. CD 2 begins with orchestral encores then goes on to songs typically given at the end of vocal recitals performed by such eminent singers as Barbara Hendricks, Dame Janet Baker and Ian Bostridge. The last tracks four come from various live recordings where the enthusiastic applause of the audience adds enormously to the atmosphere. The singers include Victoria de los Angeles, Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu, and listeners will find it hard to resist joining PlÃ¡cido Domingo and Cheryl Studer in the Brindisi from La traviata at the end.

Tracklist:

Bazzini: La Ronde Des Lutins Op.25
Paganini: Caprice No.24 in A minor Op.1 No.24
Kreisler: La Gitana (Zigeunerlied)
Massenet: Mditation (Thas) (From the Film Titanic)
Khachaturian: Sabre Dance (Gayaneh) (The Hudsucker Proxy)
Brahms Arr. Joachim: Hungarian Dance No.5 in G minor (Hotel)
Chopin: Waltz No.1 in E Flat Op.18 (The Hudsucker Proxy)
Liszt Arr. Busoni: La Campanella (No.3 of Six Grand Tudes After Paganini)
J. S. Bach Trans. Hess: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (Cantata BWV147) (Stealing Home)
Chopin: Fantaisie-Impromptu in C Sharp minor Op.66
Schumann: Trumerei (Kinderszenen Op.15) (Tea with Mussolini)
Debussy: Golliwogg's Cakewalk (Children's Corner Suite)
Falla: Ritual Fire Dance (El Amor Brujo)
Saint-Sans: Le Cygne (Le Carnaval Des Animaux) (Mona Lisa Smile)
J. S. Bach Trans. Balsom: Badinerie (Orchestral Suite No.2 BWV1067)
Goedicke: Concert Tude
Villa-Lobos: Chros No.1 in E minor
III. Presto Giocoso
Villa-Lobos: Chros No.2 for Flute and Clarinet
Widor: Toccata (Symphony No.5, Op.42)
Glinka: Ruslan and Ludmila - Overture
Smetana: Dance of the Comedians (The Bartered Bride)
Chabrier: Joyeuse Marche
Dvo?K: Slavonic Dance No.15 in C Op.72 No.7 (Kolya)
Shostakovich: Festive Overture Op.96
Chabrier: Espaa
Youmans Arr. Shostakovich: Tahiti Trot (Tea for Two)
Berlioz: Marche Hongroise (La Damnation de Faust) (Jakob the Liar)
Johann Strauss II: Leichtes Blut - Polka Op.319
Delibes: Les Filles de Cadix (De Musset)
Valverde: Clavelitos! (Cadenas)
Saint-Sans: Danse Macabre (Cazalis)
Traditional Arr. Britten: Sweet Polly Oliver
Rossini: La Danza
Schubert: An Sylvia D547
Schubert: Stndchen (Horch, Horch, Die Lerch) D889
Rossini: Duetto Buffo Di Due Gatti (Cats' Duet)
Gimnez: Zapateado (La Tarntula Un Bicho M Malo) (La Tempranica)
De Curtis: Tu Ca Nun Chiagne
Grigoriu: Muszica (Valurile Dun?Rii)
Verdi: Libiamo, Ne'lieti Calici (Brindisi) (La Traviata) (Rat Race)

UPC: 5099970514926
Label: Warner Classics
Release Date: 10.9.12
Format: CD

Essential Encores / Various - Essential Encores / Various (CD)