Search - Rimsky-Korsakov, Tjeknavorian, Armenian Phil :: Golden Cockeral Suite / Tale of Tsar Sultan Suite

The Armenian Philharmonic is just the orchestra for this kind of thing. Hardly a world-class organization, what they lack in polish they more than make up for in sheer color and enthusiasm. There's a tendency in today's orchestras to play everything with the same, highly finished gloss. This is simply a function of their high level of proficiency. And while there's nothing at all wrong with technical perfection, the fact is that this music usually doesn't arouse the kind of dedication you notice when a musician really feels proud of having conquered a tricky piece of writing. Well, you do get that sense of pride with the Armenians, and it's probably as close as we can come to what the music sounded like in the composer's own time. --David Hurwitz