Orfa was Adolphe Adam’s penultimate ballet, with an intriguing scenario based on Nordic mythology. It shares analogies with Hesiod’s Theogony and Wagner’s Ring cycle in depicting the struggle between the older gods (Loki) and younger gods (Odin). Full of archetypal Romantic elements, Orfa was mounted with the lavish stage spectacle for which the Paris Opéra was famous, and featured Fanny Cerrito in the title role. Adam’s writing shows increasingly vivid orchestral imagination, drama and tonal colour, with roles for several instrumental soloists. This world-premiere recording uses a new edition copied from Adam’s original manuscript score held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Dario Salvi is a Scottish-Italian conductor, musicologist and researcher who specialises in the restoration and performance of rare works. Salvi conducts symphonic works, ballet, opera and operettas across Europe, the Middle East and the United States. His passion is the rediscovery and performance of long-forgotten masterpieces. Recent collaborations with Naxos include a series on Auber’s overtures and orchestral music alongside numerous other projects, such as the operettas of Johann Strauss II, Franz von Suppé and Joseph Bayer, and world-premiere recordings of works by Giacomo Meyerbeer, Heinrich Marschner and Engelbert Humperdinck. Salvi has also written books on Viennese operetta, published new musical editions of operas and is a lifetime honorary member of The Johann Strauss Society of Great Britain.

Dario Salvi has a strong presence on Naxos and has recorded an album of Humperdinck’s music for the stage on 8574177, music by Bronsart on 8660476, four volumes of Auber overtures on 8574005, 8574006, 8574007 and 8574143, Johann Strauss II on 866043435 as well as Suppé and Marschner. ‘Dario Salvi conducts with unreserved energy that makes the music catch fire’ – Classical Music Daily on Suppé’s Mozart incidental music (8574383).

‘Maestro Dario Salvi[’s] attentive, refined, alternately restrained and fiery conducting marvellously serves the composer’s intentions and does justice to his beautiful music [...] with such precision and nuance that one would think he had been “briefed” by Johann Strauss himself!’ – Operetta Research Center on 866048990

The Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra has long established itself as one of the leading institutions in Bulgaria’s musical life, representative of the overall contemporary musical culture of the country, and has garnered substantial recognition all over the world. The orchestra’s repertoire comprises works from the entire historically available range of music, from classical to contemporary.