Volgograd, the city formerly known as Stalingrad, stands proud and strong in this magnificent Mussorgsky disc. And much of the credit is due to one man: conductor Edward Serov, the founder and artistic director of the Volgograd Philharmonic Orchestra. Once the assistant conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic under Yevgeny Mravinsky, Serov started the Volgograd Philharmonic in 1987 and built it into a polished, powerful, and very passionate ensemble. With this generous program of Mussorgsky's best and best-known orchestral ...
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Volgograd, the city formerly known as Stalingrad, stands proud and strong in this magnificent Mussorgsky disc. And much of the credit is due to one man: conductor Edward Serov, the founder and artistic director of the Volgograd Philharmonic Orchestra. Once the assistant conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic under Yevgeny Mravinsky, Serov started the Volgograd Philharmonic in 1987 and built it into a polished, powerful, and very passionate ensemble. With this generous program of Mussorgsky's best and best-known orchestral works, Serov and the Volgograd establish themselves as one of the great Russian orchestras. The playing is truly amazing -- the sweet touch of the strings in the "Dance of the Persian Girls" from Khovanschina, the pastoral beauty of the woodwinds in the Overture to Sorochintsy Fair, the immense strength of the brass and the gleaming colors of the percussion section in Pictures at an Exhibition: these are all qualities associated with the best orchestras. But Serov's conducting is...
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