Search - Borodin, Serebrier, Rome Symphony Orchestra :: Symphonies 1-3

Fine but under-appreciated Russian symphonies.

D. R. Schryer | Poquoson, VA United States | 03/10/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Borodin was one of the greatest Russian composers, but because musical composition was only an avocation with him -- he was a professor of chemistry and medicine by profession -- he wrote relatively little music. However, his musical output, though relatively small, was uniformly quite good -- distinctively atmospheric and melodic. His second symphony is his most famous work in this genre and deserves even more recognition than it receives. His first symphony is also quite good and also deserves to be better known. The third symphony consists of two movements sketched out by Borodin and completed by Glasunov. It is not quite up to the standards of the first two symphonies but still is well worth hearing. Serebrier's performances of these lyrically dramatic Russian symphonies are quite good. This CD is a very good collection of all of Borodin's unjustly-neglected symphonic output. I recommend it to all lovers of Russian Romanticism."