Tchaikovsky: Francesca da Rimini / Mussorgsky: 6 Songs / Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps

Conductor and composer Igor Markevitch was only two years old when his family left Russia, but he enjoyed perhaps his greatest successes with the music of his homeland. Preserving a concert with the London Symphony at the 1962 Edinburgh Festival, this disc from BBC Legends is evidence of Markevitch's affinity for Russian music. A dark, tempestuous reading of Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini opens the program, and an often gripping performance of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps concludes it. Neither will displace the leading recordings of these works on the market, but both are quite satisfying. Not only are they exciting, with viscerally powerful climaxes, but Markevitch's acute musical intelligence also allows many moments of fascinating insight into the scores. At the heart of this concert in every sense, however, is the set of six Mussorgsky songs performed by Galina Vishnevskaya. The great Russian soprano seems to have a rare interpretative unity with her conductor here; together they lead us on a mesmerizing journey through these songs, by turns melancholic, subtly delicate, and darkly comic. Enjoyment would, however, be enhanced if BBC Legends had included texts and translations for this less-than-familiar repertory. Sound quality is acceptable throughout, making this a recommendable release for anyone willing to trade the perfection of a sterile studio recording for the exhilaration of a live one. -- Scott Paulin, Barnes & Noble