Miaskovsky: Symphony No. 25 in D flat major, Op. 69

The latest in this important historical series presents performances by the legendary Russian conductor Evgeny Svetlanov. Svetlanov claimed to have recorded practically the entire corpus of Russian orchestral music, and this set covers the gamut from dances and intermezzi by the first Russian composer of international fame, Mikhail Glinka, to Svetlanov's own richly upholstered, post-Romantic music. In between are symphonies by Borodin (No.1), Balakirev (No.1), Rachmaninov (No.2) and Myaskovsky - whose vast symphonic output (27 in all) Svetlanov is so far the only conductor to have performed and recorded complete - as well as dashing miniatures by Glazunov, Liadov, Rimsky-Korsakov and many others. All are performed with Svetlanov's trademark flair and intensity, mostly in company with the USSR State Symphony Orchestra, which he trained and nurtured for 40 years before political machinations in Putin's Russia caused him to be relieved of his post and in practice exiled in 2000: he died two years later.

Of particular interest to connoisseurs of Russian music will be the works by Communist composers almost unknown (and largely unheard) in the West, including Boris Parsadanian, Alexandra Pakhmutova, Rostislav Boiko and Halik Zaimov, who is (or was) famed throughout Russia as the composer of the immortal song 'Who is this daddy on the wall of our sunny room', subtitled 'This is our dear Lenin'.