There are plenty of collections of this sort, but this rendition of the "Lezginka" from Khachaturian's "Gayane" was what sold me this recording. Orbelian adds what sounds to me like an authentic Caucasian hand drum to his orchestra, which drives the already exciting music and gives it the unbuttoned abandon of a wild folk dance that transcends the concert hall. If the "Lezginka" is one of your favorites, I doubt you've heard it like this; if you haven't heard it, my advice is to pick this up. The rest of the program is well-known and enjoyable; a transliteration and translation of the "Polovtsian dances" choral text is an unexpected bonus.

This is the first Delos recording about which I can say that it just doesn't sound good. It doesn't sound bad, mind you, but the microphones were placed so far from the orchestra that the recording is awash in reverberation. As soon as the volume rises, it seems as if I were listening to this fine orchestra in a gymnasium. You couldn't pick out an individual instrument or line if your life depended on it. I know there is a horn section in there somewhere, but darned if I can hear it.

This 2001 recording made in Moscow, Russia is not a John Eargle job, which may be the reason. Eargle did a lot of work on defining the best placement of microphones for surround recording. Hopefully, engineer Jeff Mee did not follow his mentor's theories because if he did, then the dearly departed John Eargle failed for one of the few times in his life. It may be the hall, but if so, Mee did nothing to tame it. However you cut it, this is not a well engineered recording from an audiophile's perspective.

Shame. The performance is quite good. I must say, though, that I wish recording companies would quit filling out Russian music CDs with warhorse Tchaikovsky works that have been recorded 10,000 times. Even Borodin's Polotvsian Dances is becoming over-worked. (Telarc also did this in their recent Russian music "spectacular" SACD.) The Khachaturian music is worth the admission. Somehow this composer remains underappreciated in the United States.

I bought this album for the Waltz from Masquerade and fell in love with all the music. This is pure fun music, wonderful for a lazy Sunday afternoon.