For this second collaboration between the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Emmanuel Krivine and Zig-Zag Territoires, two major Russian works were chosen. Both make the orchestra sound sumptuous with, for the first, the complicity of that fantastic colourist and orchestrator Maurice Ravel, and for the second, the skill of a composer nicknamed ‘the magician of the orchestra’. Emmanuel Krivine excels in these works, which demand much of all the musicians and necessitate as much commitment as perspicacity from the conductor, at the service of scores magnifying the fantastic musical instrument that is the modern symphony orchestra.

Chandos’ Rimsky-Korsakov symphony cycle effectively steals the thunder from Neeme Järvi’s set on Deutsche Grammophon. Dmitri Kitajenko’s grittier and bolder readings better present the music. While Järvi luxuriates in Gothenberg’s smooth sonorities, Kitajenko draws more stark sounds from his Bergen Philharmonic players. This is especially telling in the Antar Symhony (which Rimsky-Korsaskov later published as a “symphonic suite”) where Kitajenko’s gruff approach makes the second movement’s growling argument more forbidding.

Vassily Sinaisky is on home territory here, and brings plenty of fizz to the old war-horse [Capriccio Espagnol]. Overtures to the Maid of Pskov and the Tsar’s Bride are here with the Fairy Tale Legend, The Sinfonitetta on Russian Themes and a short skirmish with Finiculi-Finicula. Rimsky always writes (or borrows) a good tune, and is a colourful orchestrator, and, with the first-class Chandos sound, the music gives much greater pleasure than might be expected.

The Annecy Classic Festival has become a major player in the national and international cultural landscape. In residence at the 2013 Annecy Classic Festival, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic closes the festival and joins forces with its iconic conductor Yuri Temirkanov. Together with multi-gifted musician Denis Matsuev, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra invites us on a journey, whose secret lies in Rachmaninov’s famous Piano Concerto No.2 and the Symphonic Dances. Denis Matsuev, the «Siberian Bear» as they call him, interprets the Piano Concerto No.2 virtuously and passionately. Yuri Temirkanov takes us on a journey through One Thousand and One Nights with a performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s lush Sheherazade, with its intoxicating scents and the glowing, oriental colours.

Even with 15 other versions of Rimsky's masterpiece of orchestral virtuosity to choose from — some in the top flight — this was recognized from the first as one of the most rewarding, thanks largely to Krebbers's exceptionally sweet, gently appealing and bewitching personification of the story - spinning Scheherazade and to Kondrashin's skill in pacing and shaping movements as a whole, relating the diverse tempos and building up tension and dynamics by careful control so as to create climaxes of thrilling intensity and power. the 'shipwreck' finale, in particular, was overwhelming; and this was achieved without resorting to the ultra - fast tempos adopted by some conductors to whip up excitement. The Concertgebouw's crisp, sonorous and sensitive playing (full marks both to the splendid strings and to the wind soloists) was caught with the utmost fidelity; but the Compact Disc's total exclusion even of minimal extraneous background now marks a still further improvement, as can be judged by the dead silence against which Scheherazade's pleadings are heard. The final coda is ravishingly beautiful.

Originally composed to celebrate Pushkin’s centenary, the full title of the work - The Tale of Tsar Saltan, of His Son the Renowned and Mighty Bogatyr Prince Gvidon Saltanovich, and of the Beautiful Princess-Swan - is indicative of the fantastical content of the opera. It is an old-fashioned Russian treat for the eyes and the ears from the country’s most long-standing musical institution. Filled with colourful music that is typical of Rimsky-Korsakov’s style, it is the origin of the instantly recognisable Flight of the Bumblebee, which arrives when the magic Swan-Princess changes Prince Gvidon Saltanovich into an insect.

Rimsky-Korsakov is universally acknowledged as a great master of the orchestra. He even wrote a textbook on the subject consisting entirely of examples from his own music! He needed some sort of pictorial or literary stimulus to really get his imagination going, however. His "abstract pieces," like Symphonies No. 1 and 3, are comparative failures specifically because he believed that symphonic thought was incompatible with orchestral brilliance (he wasn't the only Romantic composer to succumb to that fallacy). So all of his best music is either obviously illustrative, or taken from one of his colorful "fairy tale" operas. This two-disc set gives you an excellent selection of works of both types at a great price.

Elena Kelessidi is one of opera’s most touching and fiery artists and the most international Greek soprano of today. Here she makes her recital debut with this heartfelt programme of songs from a country whose language is natural to her.

'Some of the most joyously delightful music that you will ever hear’ (American Record Guide). ‘A most striking performance, beautifully modulated, elegantly phrased … very well recorded indeed’ (BBC Record Review)

It was Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov's older brother, Voin, who first put ideas of travel, ships and the sea into the would-be composer's head. The young Nikolay had never set foot aboard a boat but Voin's evocative letters home from the Far East, where he was stationed in the Imperial Russian Navy, proved more than sufficient. In 1856, he enrolled as a naval cadet and completed six years of training. Barely a year into his studies at the naval academy, the young Nikolay saw his first opera. Soon he heard symphonies by Beethoven and Mendelssohn and encountered a piece by his senior Mikhail Glinka, Jota Aragonesa. Even before he embarked on a three-year voyage around the world aboard a clipper, Rimsky knew he wanted to be a composer, not a seaman.

One major popular composer of Romantic orchestral music whose work, outside of his ubiquitous symphonic suite Scheherazade, is not terribly over-recorded is Russia's Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov. That, and a tendency toward what for him was an "orientalist" strain in harmonic practice and orchestration, makes Rimsky-Korsakov an ideal choice for the recordings on BIS of a relatively new ensemble, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1997 by conductor Kees Bakels. It is a testament to the skill of Bakels as an orchestra builder that he has raised such a fine musical organization in just eight years. Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol is intended as a follow-up to the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra's recording of Scheherazade, already issued, and as an added bonus, the great Japanese pianist Noriko Ogawa joins the orchestra as guest in Rimsky-Korsakov's all-too-seldom-heard Piano Concerto in C sharp minor, Op. 30. The music, recorded at the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas Hall in Kuala Lumpur, is both very well played and recorded. The Capriccio Espagnol gets off to a great start, with Bakels the orchestra is strongly sympathetic to the piece, though careful ears can pick out some raggedy ensemble in the last section. Ogawa alone is enough to make the Piano Concerto shine, and thankfully Bakels provides comfortable and gracious support to Ogawa's magisterial artistry.

Master and pupil? A youthful venture on the part of the composer of Scheherazade while naval officer, this symphony of Rimsky-Korsakov deploys fine rhetoric worthy of Haydn’s ‘military’ model incorporating contemporary material. His ‘cadet’ applies himself studiously - Stravinsky’s approach is more casual although the da capo appear in their entirety. A mere ad libitum experiment, his Scherzo fantastique is disappointingly lacking in metronomic rigour but not in inventivity. These two pieces appear together for the first time in over a century and are showcased with consummate skill.

The American pianist Lorin Hollander was only 14 years old in 1958 when he recorded his first album for RCA, a personal selection of “22 Favorites” entitled Discovering the Piano. Its success led to a sequel the following year. Over the next eight years he produced an acclaimed series of releases for the Red Label, establishing an international career which would eventually encompass more than 2,500 appearances as a pianist, conductor and passionate advocate for arts education. Hollander has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras and collaborated with conductors such as Bernstein, Szell, Ormandy, Leinsdorf, Previn, Haitink, Ozawa and Mehta. Sony Classical is now pleased to present a new 8-disc box set offering Lorin Hollander’s complete RCA discography for the first time on CD.

Composed in 1882/3, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Piano Concerto was the last of a series of works written in the very happy middle period of his life; other compositions of this period, rich in charming lyricism, included the opera The Snow Maiden and the orchestral Szakza (‘Fairy Tale’). The Concerto was first performed in March 1884 at one of Balakirev’s Free School concerts in St Petersburg and was the last work of Rimsky to be wholly approved of by his erstwhile mentor. While the lyricism is still sincere and deeply felt in the Concerto, the work also foreshadows the master artificer of the later years.

IMAGINATION – the sixth album by Opus Klassik winner Raphaela Gromes takes listeners on a romantic, virtuoso and musical journey into the world of fantasy. With her soulful and brilliant performance, the young cellist conjures up powerful images before the eyes and ears of listeners. Raphaela Gromes chose works for her musical journey around the world by composers from Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Russia, Hungary, France, the US and Canada.