01. Mikhail Glinka - Russlan and Ludmilla, op.5. Overture^ [5'45]
02. Romeo and Juliet. Fantasy Overture^ [19'11]
03. The Tempest, op.18* [24'44]
04. The Voyevode. Symphonic Ballad, op.78# [11'41]
05. The Storm. Overture, op.76# [12'19]
06. - 09. Suite No. 3 in G major, op.55 [38'28]
07. Capriccio Italien, op.45[16'37]
08. Marche slave, op.31[10'05]
09. Gopak 'Cossack Dance' from Mazeppa [3'54]
London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Adrian Boult; Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Anatole Fistoulari* and New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Yuri Krasnapolsky#.
EMI Gemini 5176242 (recorded 1956 to 1974; this CD release 2008)
(digital download; cover and (poor ) back scans - no booklet)
Recording venues: Abbey Road No.1 Studio and Kingsway Hall*, London.
Recording engineers: Christopher Parker, Stuart Eltham# and unknown*; Producers: Christopher Bishop, Anthony C. Griffith^, John Willan# and unknown*
It seems that EMI had insufficient recordings of Adrian Boult in Tchaikovsky to fill two CDs so we also get two other conductors a plus Sir Adrian in the Glinka overture as make weight to an otherwise all-Tchaikovsky programme.
All of Sir Adrian's contributions are predictably first rate with the main work being the Suite No.3 for which he had a particular affinity. Universal Music's Australian label Eloquence are, later this month, issuing another all-Tchaikovsky twofer set of Boult's Decca recordings which includes his earlier mono recording of Suite No.3 with the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra. (I see that it has already appeared on Isra.) The recorded sound and orchestral playing is considerably superior in this later recording.
The three makeweights of rarely performed and decidedly second-drawer Tchaikovsky are a mixed bag. Anatole Fistoulari and the Philharmonia are outstanding in The Tempest and almost make it a really worthwhile work but the little-known American conductor, Yuri Krasnapolsky, does little with The Voyevode (as named by EMI, rather than the usual Voyevoda) and The Storm.
Recording quality is generally excellent (even the Fistoulari from 1956) but the two Krasnapolsky tracks seem curiously dull; to match the music-making.
Download from MEGA.