Search - Glazunov, Scarlatti, Bach :: Seasons / Ballet Suites

Beat me to it

Mark McCue | Denver, CO USA | 08/02/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Two well-informed reviewers got here before me, but I'll add just a few things. Irving was one of the ballet podium's greats and it shows to full effect here. The star is the Glazounov, richly, rythmically detailed--you can almost hear all the on-stage hoofing. The playing is razor sharp, yet full, the sound engineering of usual Capitol excellence. Other great "Seasons" have come to us--Ansermet, Wolff, Desormiere--but none of them have such good sound or quite as good orchestral execution. I'm not throwing out my vinyl issue of Irving, though--I'm getting some silky overtones on violins that are definitely missing here in the CD.The fillers show equal attention but we won't get so excited about them because there's a lot less to get excited about. But they're old ballet standards that Irving presided over countless times in the pit, so we might as well have them here, done to a "T." When it comes to ballet, it's probably best to stick to the old pros in most things. And Irving is probably Chariman of the Board for a lot of listeners. If you can scare up his Prokofiev "Cinderella" on old Angel/EMI vinyl, you'll get some of the most beautiful ballet sounds that ever came out of a pair of speakers."

Glazunov's "The Seasons" is a miniature masterpiece

D. R. Schryer | Poquoson, VA United States | 10/20/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

""The Seasons" is a short ballet score by Glazunov. It is a colorful, melodic little masterpiece and Robert Irving's performance of it is superb.The other two works are pleasant and well performed, but "The Seasons" is the star of this collection. If you like lyrical ballet scores --- or Russian Romanticism -- treat yourself to this CD."