Mussorgsky:
Pictures at an Exhibition, (orch. Ravel)
Night on Bald Mountain, original and Rimsky's
Golitsin's Exile from Khovanchina
Hopak from Sorochinsky Fair
Naxos SACD $11.99 USD
(did you notice?  $11.99?)

Wow.  I didn't think I could get excited while listening to Pics at an
Ex ever again, but the National Symphony Orchestra of the Ukraine turns
in a vivid performance.  From the deliciously unhomogenized oboe, to the
earthy but warm strings, to the overly-earnest percussion section...it
was a delight all the way through.  (Don't tell anyone, but usually I
move ahead to the Hut and Gate.

One of the many striking moments was how splashy Ravel's writing for
bells, gong and cymbals sounds in the last quiet run before the final
statement of the Great Gate theme; it was an unusually colorful, intense
and exciting build up.  The heaving string writing in Bydlo comes off
particulary sad and burdensome, as the cart lumbers along.  Lighter
moments for winds are vividly characterized.

Had enough of Night on Bald Mountain?  You get two versions here: Rimsky's
correction, and Mussy's original.  I like both, though my favorite
alternative being the one with chorus, as it sounds the most errie of
all.  (Abbado/Sony, I believe.) Kuchar and the Ukraine make them sound
freshly-minted.

If you think you had no romance left for this music, it got me goin'
again.

Once again the SACD recording, (I opted for the 2-channel layer),
intoxicates the ear in a way that PCM never did for me, though I never
would have known when PCM was all there was.  "Relaxed" is the best way
I could decribe the sound, for what it's worth.

John Smyth
Sac, CA