Search - Halle Orchestra, Handley, Glinka :: Russian Spectacular

A great job full of Slavic character and panache

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 08/30/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I wasn't expecting great things from an English conductor and orchestra in loud, visceral Russian music, so I am pleased to say this CD delivers the goods uniformly across the selections.



My goal when I bought this CD was to acquire one CD that inlcuded both the "Ruslan And Ludmilla" overture and the "Russian Easter Overture". While that might seem a natural pairing, when I looked around on Amazon.com I found not too many CDs with that grouping that were attractive based on their overall program.



After I became interested I listened to a sound byte and was convinced the "Capriccio Espanol" on this recording could be memorable. That performance has a high level of polish from the players and Spanish flavor, quite the oddity when you consider these are British forces performing Russian music about Spain!



After having spent some time with this CD, I would also say this performance of "A Night On The Bare Mountain" is up there with all the best performances on the planet including Stokowski's.



Vernon Handley is most well-known to classical music collectors for his cycle of Vaughan Williams symphonies and other British music. Before I bought this I'd never heard him conduct music that wasn't British. On the basis of this CD, I'd say he's just as reliable in Russian music as in English music. Now I'd like to hear him do something from the core German repertoire.



On this issue he coaxes wonderfully Slavic playing from the Halle Orchestra while delivering the music in a full-throated voice you might hear from Rostropovich and maintaining the consistency and European approach of a Kondrashin. There is better work on this disk than on many recordings from Russian conductors I've heard.



The sound on these 1988 recordings is clear with good depth and DDD bite, to boot. Everything going on here makes this recording worth having, especially at the low price being asked on Amazon.com. Don't hesitate if you are looking for this group of compositions."