As balletomanes will be aware (but others will want to know about this disc as well), La fille mal gardee was originally devised in Bordeaux in 1789. For his Covent Garden production of 1960 Sir Frederick Ashton got John Lanchbery to prepare a score based mainly on the quite different music Herold composed for Paris in 1828 (it includes quotations from Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia and La cenerentola), plus some additions. Of these the best-known today is the popular ''Clog Dance''; also the so-called ''Fanny Elssler pas de deux'' (1839) most of which is based on quotations from Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore. Superimposed on this hodge-podge are Lanchbery's delightfully witty and unashamedly out-of-period arrangements and orchestration, which have had a great deal to do with the ballet's success.
Lanchbery's own recording (Decca) is now more than 20 years old, and the new one can be welcomed both for having a much better sound to it and because the RLPO is so very much on its toes. Barry Wordsworth clearly has a flair for this sort of music, and he draws some splendidly slick and bouncy playing from all concerned. The difference between the softest and the loudest sounds is enormous and considerably adds to the effect. Two traces of pre-echo on Side 1 (band 2) should worry nobody; the quality is magnificent. Both versions offer nearly an hour of music, but neither gives the score complete. Ballet schools may like to know of the main differences in content: only the older Decca has Nos. 15 and 22, only the new HMV Nos. 4, 26 and 28. Both omit Nos. 5-9, 11-12, 20-21 and 25. Recommended.'