Review by raffells July 2, 2008 (6 of 6 found this review helpful)
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Russian Nights with Spanish, Hungarian and Armennian liberties. I must admit to being sceptical about buying a Russian disc by an orchestra that had underperformed on a Dukas disc.No worries whatsovever. Starting with a half decent but slightly repetetive Russlan which seemed slightly better for the polish applied, we are then treated to some decent performances of Soviet composers works.None will replace any of the great performanaces but that is missing the point on a highly entertaining disc. Strangely the highlight for me was Khachatchurians Love theme from Spartacus which they avoided going overboard with the infamous Telarc Bass drum,though it is present as usual on this recording. Probably as good as any other version Ive heard as a stand alone. Liadovs Enchanted Lake excellent played will suprise many as will Liadovs short Music Box. I do wish they had placed it between the noisey end the Polvotsion Dances and noisey start of Capriccio Espagnol which is considerably better than the boring Membran version.Even though it misses out on a lot of Spanishness.Needed to be a touch tighter and Dance like. The pompousness of The Procession is interesting and works well as does the slight showboating on the final Hungarian Dance from Swan Lake. All in all excellent recording and good variety with no weakness.Hardly any sacd competition as a package.Probably the perfect introduction disc for non classical music lovers. Booklet has short helpfull notes.
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