His opera, Boris Godunov, is performed by just about every major opera company in the world, while one of his most famous orchestral pieces is his Pictures at an Exhibition, composed in 1874. We know it, however, mostly in an arrangement by Maurice Ravel written in 1922. It is in this version that the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse under the baton of Tugan Sokhiev recorded this work on the Naïve label. The second work on this CD is Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F minor from 1877.

It is interesting to note that the works were composed only three years apart, and that the two composers were both in their mid-thirties when the created these works. Tchaikovsky was not a member of the group. His music also contained the fire of artistic nationalism, yet the 4^th Symphony, aside from a distinctly Russian sound, shows European influences as well. One cannot help but sense Beethoven's voice in this symphony. It was premiered under the direction of Nikolai Rubinstein on February 11, 1878. Tchaikovsky wrote the work shortly after his short, disastrous marriage ended. It is not difficult to sense the sadness it carries, nor the melancholy, yet there are also moments of happiness fashioned into a whole that Tchaikovsky described as "a sincere echo of my personal impressions, But only in an echo."

As for Pictures at an Exhibition, it is lively, celebrating the life of a friend, Viktor Hartmann, whom he had lost recently. While attending a posthumous exhibition of Hartmann's works of art, he found himself responding to the work and he noted down that, "Hartmann is bubbling over, as Boris [Goudenov] did: sounds and ideas float in the air — I swallow them and stuff myself full of them and I hardly have time to scribble them down on paper."

The orchestra is conducted by Tugan Sokhiev, a youthful Russian conductor, who will turn 30 later this year. Being Russian, one expects him to have a good grasp of the music, and yet there is something that appears to be disconnected in the performance of the two works. It is hard to say whether it is the conductor's vision of the music or the French orchestra's response to him. On the one hand one gets the feeling he is pushing the orchestra too much, and at the other the playing is for the most part rather pedestrian. The CD's liner notes speak of the strong relationship between the orchestra and Sokhiev, but the CD doesn't reveal it. As this is my first encounter with this Toulouse orchestra, I cannot give a true assessment of where the fault may lie.

By the way, it is just a small aside here, but the occasional English wording in the liner notes, which have been translated from the French, leaves something to be desired.. Although translated by someone who appears to be a native English speaker, there is a lack of grammatical polish and also a use of words that do not exist, such as 'jokily'. There is jokingly [adv.], there is jokey [adj.], jokiness [n.]. Alas, while the French will not tolerate an ill-used word in their language, they do not object to decimating someone else's. It must also be stated that the outside cover uses the French spelling of Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky, but in the English version of the liner notes, the correct spelling is used (as is here).

What I do find strange is that the liner notes give a fair account of Sokhiev's wide engagement throughout the world as an orchestral director and as a music director in opera. There is, however, no mention of his years at the Welsh National Opera, which engaged him when he was a mere 25. It appears he resigned under a cloud just a year later. It seems, the final straw was a production of La Traviata. One critic had stated that his interpretation was "too brash and inorganic in his dynamics . . ."

The sound quality of this CD is generally good. Hence, this may be a good CD for someone who is not familiar with the works, especially since its cost, distributed here by Naxos, is reasonable. It does not, however, garner more than three stars from this reviewer.