ANTON ARENSKY (1861-1906): Egyptian Nights, Op. 50.

Description: For this 1900 ballet, based on Pushkin, Arensky chose an exotic theme – the dangerous love of the handsome Amoun for Queen Cleopatra – and sought authentic melodic material in scholarly texts. With his gift for orchestration and color, Arensky fashioned a sensuous and vivid score, featuring a brilliantly conceived series of dances. This was a world premiere recording on its initial release on Marco Polo. “Gramophone wrote: ‘The playing is suitably colorful, the recording responsive to that’. Moscow Symphony Orchestra; Dmitri Yablonsky. Original 1997 Marco Polo release.