It’s good to have a new, well-played and -recorded collection of music by this most lazy of composers, best known as the guy whose inaction in the ballet department gave Stravinsky his big break with The Firebird. The three major works here, The Enchanted Lake, From the Apocalypse, and Kikimora receive colorful and spirited performances, with the two celebratory Polonaises and the Mazurka offering a festive and formal contrast to the surrounding freeform fairy tales. Previous releases devoted to this composer on various labels (Olympia, Melodiya, Marco Polo, and ASV) seem to come and go in the catalog, and in any event aren’t so polished as this one in execution or brilliantly captured by the engineers. Liadov was an elegant, fastidious musical craftsman, and Vassily Sinaisky manages to convey this without underplaying the few big climaxes. In short, anyone interested in this music will find this collection very satisfying. [8/11/2001]
