1812 cd

This 5-CD collection puts its primary focus on the Russians, with some notable excursions over to France. Ravel's immortal Bolero joins 1812 Overture; Capriccio Italien Tchaikovsky; Pictures at an Exhibition; Night on Bald Mountain Mussorgsky; Scheherazade ; three suites and The Flight of the Bumblebee from The Tale of Tsar Sultan Rimsky-Korsakov; Hungarian March: The Damnation of Faust Berlioz; L'Apprenti Sorcier Dukas; Pavane Pour Une Infante Defunte Ravel; Danse Macabre Saint-Saens; Jota Aragonesa Glinka; Prince Igor: Polovtsian Dances Borodin; Prelude A I'apres-Midi D'un Faune, and more!

The word ‘symphony’ is used to describe an extended orchestral composition in Western classical music. By the eighteenth century the Italianate opera sinfonia - musical interludes between operas or concertos - had assumed the structure of three contrasting movements, and it is this form that is often considered as the direct forerunner of the orchestral symphony. With the rise of established professional orchestras, the symphony assumed a more prominent place in concert life between 1790 and 1820 until it eventually came to be regarded by many as the yardstick by which one would measure a composer’s achievement.

Granting a long-held wish of many record collectors, Sony Classical is issuing the complete monaural American Columbia discography of Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra in a vast box set of 120 CDs, all in new remasterings. Almost all of this material will be appearing for the first time on CD on Sony Classical. Indeed, 152 of these recordings have never been released at all on CD before now.

Slatkin's recording of Tchaikovsky's "Little Russian" Symphony (No 2 in C minor) is very good. Slatkin uses an expansive tempo in the Allegro of I, but the music never drags. In short Slatkin and the virtuoso musicians of the Saint Louis Symphony serve Tchaikovsky's early symphony very well. The impression they give is one of massiveness and confidence, and it works!