Russian Nights (Incls 'Capriccio Espagnol', 'Polovtsian Dances' & ' Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla')

Russian Nights, the newest release by Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra on the GRAMMY-winning Telarc label, takes listeners on a colorful journey of popular classics and music from ballet and opera, all written by some of Russia's best-known composers. From Glinka's Russlan and Ludmilla to Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, Russian Nights tells enchanting musical stories.

"This disc is steeped in the rich musical language of Russia and includes recognizable orchestral classics such as Borodin's Polovtsian Dances and dances from Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker and Swan Lake,” says Kunzel. "We've also included Rimsky-Korsakov's brilliantly orchestrated Capriccio Espagnol as well as music by the 20th century composers Khachaturian and Prokofiev.”

Some of the symphony orchestra's most exciting and brilliant works are products of the ardent nationalism that swept Russia in the decades after the country was given its distinctive musical voice by Mikhail Glinka's two epochal operas, A Life for the Czar (1836) and Russlan and Ludmilla (1842). That vibrant spirit is captured on Russian Nights.