Mihail Jora - Ballet music. Historical recordings from the archives of Radio Romania - CD Review, 1^st of November 2023

The Suite op. 10 "La piață" ("At the market") (Radio Symphony Orchestra, conductor Constantin Bobescu); the Suite op. 35 "Când strugurii se coc" ("When the grapes ripen") (Radio Symphony Orchestra, Constantin Silvestri).

During this year's "George Enescu" International Festival, Casa Radio Publishing House released several albums of major importance for Romanian cultural life. Among them, the album "Mihail Jora - Ballet Music", with a presentation by pianist Dr. Ilinca Dumitrescu. The disc includes historical recordings from the Radio Romania archives, made at the Radio Hall in 1953, 1964 and 1968, under the baton of illustrious conductors: Constantin Bobescu, Constantin Silvestri and Iosif Conta. These prints bring to light three suites representative of Romanian choreographic creation - "La piață", " Când strugurii se coc " and "Întoarcerea din adâncuri" ("The return from the underworld") by the man considered the creator of ballet and lieder in our country - the composer, teacher, conductor, pianist and music critic Mihail Jora, the first musical director of the Romanian Broadcasting Company, founding member and vice-president of the Romanian Composers' Society and member of the Romanian Academy, creator of the modern Romanian school of composition.

In one of his many articles, Mihail Jora wrote about the phrase "Romanian ballet": "What does Romanian ballet mean? A choreographic art created by Romanian dancers, to music written by Romanian composers, on themes from Romanian life, on movements and rhythms taken from Romanian folk dances." The suites " La piață " and " Când strugurii se coc " fit perfectly into this idea.