COMPOSERS: Rimsky-Korsakov
LABELS: Philips Duo
WORKS: Symphony No. 2 (Antar); Capriccio espagnol; The Snow Maiden Suite; Tsar Saltan Suite; The Golden Cockerel Suite; Sadko
PERFORMER: Rotterdam PO/David Zinman
CATALOGUE NO: 442 605-2 DDD (1982/83)
These two discs have brought together almost all the pieces conventionally used as fillers after recordings of Sheherazade. But in the absence of the masterpiece itself, this music, for all its exotic orchestration and easy tunefulness, has something of a second division feel about it. The flamboyant Capriccio espagnol is naturally excluded from such a sweeping generalisation. The Tsar Saltan Suite (which sensibly but improperly includes ‘The Flight of the Bumble-bee’) is unusually rich and atmospheric in this performance, as is Antar (or Symphony No. 2), whose haunting motto theme has been following me around ever since. Christopher Lambton
Rimsky-Korsakov: Symphony No. 2 (Antar); Capriccio espagnol; The Snow Maiden Suite; Tsar Saltan Suite; The Golden Cockerel Suite; Sadko
These two discs have brought together almost all the pieces conventionally used as fillers after recordings of Sheherazade. But in the absence of the masterpiece itself, this music, for all its exotic orchestration and easy tunefulness, has something of a second division feel about it. The flamboyant Capriccio espagnol is naturally excluded from such a sweeping generalisation. The Tsar Saltan Suite (which sensibly but improperly includes ‘The Flight of the Bumble-bee’) is unusually rich and atmospheric in this performance, as is Antar (or Symphony No.
Our rating
4
Published: January 20, 2012 at 3:15 pm