Utah Symphony Orchestra / Abravanel,Maurice - Russian Legends & Dances - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Abravanel is very good in this music - crackling with energy tempered with tender ways with the great melodies. Antar is a neglected prize among Rimsky's works ranking with Sheherazade... Caucasian Sketches have These You Have Loved status with Procession of the Sardar establishing the idiom for a thousand Hollywood triumphal and barbarous marches... The Glière is a fun piece that stamps emphatically and clearly influenced by Mussorgsky's Pictures from an Exhibition. As an inexpensive single disc collection of less obvious Russian repertoire this is difficult to top. I recommend it strongly. (Rob Barnett / MusicWeb International)