Georg Solti's LSO performances bring the barbaric splendors of Prince Igor to life with unforgettable brilliance and magnetism, and the dash of scene-stealing overkill he brings to this music certainly isn't out of place. The overture (completed by Glazunov and Rimsky-Korsakov) is thrilling, with Solti's exceptionally volatile treatment generating one of the most unforgettable performances available on CD. The sonorous opening, with its dark-hued lower strings and solemn brass chording splendidly shows off the depth and range of Decca's 1966 recording, and the crescendo into the first allegro (with the tuba pedal-note supporting tiered trumpet and horn entries) astounds. The seductive horn solo (presumably the great Barry Tuckwell?) is exemplary, and the vigorous central section has impressive bite and thrust. Also fine are the high-register cellos in their subsequent section solo, and the coda is blazingly triumphant. The LSO Chorus joins the orchestra for Borodin's popular dances, delivered with as much high-voltage swagger and panache as the overture and sounding resplendent in this new transfer.

Jean Martinon directs the LSO in the Symphony No. 2, managing to illuminate parts of this ingenious score that many recordings typically neglect. For example, the stabbing trumpet dissonance at the start of the scherzo is brought out very powerfully indeed, and the difficult fermatas of the opening are just as deliberate. But also in the first movement the second theme's first note, a harmonic "A" for the cellos, isn't perfectly in tune (Decca's recording really highlights this), though Martinon keeps the music powerfully on course, producing a coda of impressive grandeur. The solo horn again is outstanding in the Andante, and the lead-in cello and bass syncopations prefacing the finale are skillfully handled. Only the Ashkenazy/Royal Philharmonic Decca remake offers such clean and detailed sound; the performance is slightly less individual, though, and the couplings are Borodin's Symphony No. 1 and In the Steppes of Central Asia.

Eloquence provides another famous recording to complete this bargain package--Ernest Ansermet's 1961 reading of the incomplete Symphony No. 3. The second-movement scherzo is expertly calculated and Ansermet's flair for orchestral color and balance ensures that the filigree passagework for winds is always perfectly audible; only Neeme Järvi's Gothenburg performance on DG runs it close. The recording isn't quite in the league of the later LSO performances, but it's more than acceptable. In all, this makes another first rate and generously filled Eloquence concoction, but if you want just the first two symphonies, try Ashkenazy on Decca. For the complete Borodin orchestral music, Järvi's set is unbeatable, and DG's insert notes are the best I've read on this composer.

--Michael Jameson