Sergei Leiferkus’ heartfelt Songs and Dances of Death is notable for its rich vocal tone and telling timbral variety. The baritone’s distinctly different styles of declamation (gloomy in the Lullaby, stentorian in the Field Marshal Death) underline the music’s contrasted moods. This makes for one of the high points of this release. The other is the recorded sound, which in Pictures at an Exhibition is quite arresting in its sheer amplitude. The spacious and reverberant acoustic, combined with the recording’s wide dynamic range, makes the Great Gate of Kiev one of the loudest on disc. Of course, the Royal Philharmonic brass contributes much to this effect, as does Yuri Temirikanov, who milks the end for all its grandiose pageantry. He takes pretty much the same approach in The Gnome, Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle, and Catacombs (although he’s surprisingly unimaginative in Ballet of Unhatched Chicks). Throughout, the Royal Philharmonic provides colorful and characterful playing from all sections–likewise in the Khovanshchina prelude, where Temirkanov creates a delightfully mystical atmosphere. So while this is certainly no world-conquering Mussorgsky/Pictures disc (Reiner’s, Szell’s, and Sinopoli’s would fall in that category), the inclusion of Leiferkus’ performance makes it a little more noticeable among the multitude of choices. [6/9/2004]
