Scriabin: Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 29

“Evgeny Svetlanov's 1966 recording with the USSR Symphony Orchestra has always been a front-runner. Coupled on this disc with the Second Symphony, the performance [of Le Poème de l'Extase] is remarkable both for the lucidity and languor Svetlanov achieves and for the degree of disquiet and menace that enters into his interpretation. Svetlanov also capitalises on the orchestra's rich resources, whether in the striving trumpet tune that forms a fixed idea throughout the piece or in the general kaleidoscope of motifs and timbres that Skryabin deploys in creating his sensuous canvas.” Daily Telegraph, 19th July 2008

"Again Naxos has produced an excellent recording. The sound is simply perfect. It's the sound of an orchestra, not multi-miked instruments blended by some engineer. It has bite, but it's also wonderfully smooth. You can hear a real place, and you get a feeling of space. (So many recordings make me feel claustrophobic.) The conductor is young and talented, yet he is part of the great Russian tradition, and this is unmistakably a Russian interpretation. Many of us were fond of the Svetlanov LP; if that appealed to you, you will be grateful for what Naxos has done." - Donald R. Vroon, American Record Guide, Mar/Apr97

"[Golovanov's] Scriabin cries, screams, rushes headlong into climaxes then collapses in a molten heap. These are old records, like sonically standard vintage soundtracks, but boy do they deliver" Rob Cowan - Gramophone Magazine, September 2007