Customer Rating: 
Summary: A fantastic recording
Comment: This is a fantastic album, not only for lovers of Russian music. It's actually my favorite recording of Tchaikovsky's "1812", masterfully conducted by Neeme Jarvi,and beautifully accompanied by the great Gothenburg Symphonic Chrous, the Churchbells of Gothenburg and real 19th-century cannons provided by an artillery regiment. Continue with Tchaikovsky's "Marche Slave": a fantastic melodic piece, so often undervalued by snobbish critics. One of the best pieces in this record is Borodin's "Polotvsian Dances", from the opera "Price Igor": the mysterious beauty of inner Russian melodies appears along with the powerful sounds that evoke Central Asia's warriors. Continue with a masterly interpretation of Rimsky Korsakov's "Russian Easter Festival", and you'll be entering, thanks to this unforgetable record, the fabulously rich world of Russian orchestral music.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Not that good
Comment: I read very good critics about this recording and I bought it expecting god performances. It didn't turn out like that.
1812 is the best work of the present recording, the coral part works extremely well and the performance in general has great distinction. In fact, this performance stands out among many others. It won't surpass Dorati's famous account, but it will do better than Gergiev, Abbado, Karajan, Solti, Maazel, Stokowski, Bernstein just to mention a few that I am familiar with.
Marche Slave: This is a very standard reading, in this case, if you really want a fine performance of this work, I strongly recommend you to go for Stokowski's one on Decca (by far the best I've heard) or Abbado's with the Berlin Philharmonic on DG (surprisingly).
In the Steppes of Central Asia, again, very standard, I don't mean it's a bad version, but you can find better ones like Gergiev's with the Kirov Orchestra.
The Polovtsian dances lack strength, there are plenty of versions better than this one. As I said about the "Steppes" this is not a bad account, but if you listen to Mackerras, Dorati, Gergiev or Stokowski, you will see what I mean.
The Russian Easter Overture is the biggest disappointment on this disc. Järvi has made great recordings of Rimsky-Korsakov's music for Chandos, so I don't know what happened here. So, if you are buying this CD because of this piece, don't waste you money. The sound quality is poor, and the performance itself is not very exciting. So far, the best Russian Easter Overture I've heard is Markevitch's on Phillips, and Stokowski's on RCA.
On the other hand, the Capriccio Español is an excellent performance, very energetic, very well played from beginning to end and even though I wouldn't say it's the best, it cernainly ranks high among its many competitors. Dorati's and Mackerras's, both with the LSO in Mercury Living Presence and TELARC respectively are very recommendable too.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Full blooded classical music at its best
Comment: In this era of period instruments and musicological correctness it is a pleasure to here rousing performances of the full blooded classical music which Tchaikovsky and other Russian composers did so well. I like all of the works presented on this CD, but I especially like the outstanding performance of the 1812 overture and the use of a chorus in its finale. Very highly recommended.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Thunderous!
Comment: I am a new listener to classical music and as such do not claim to have yet developed a refined ear. However, this recording has exactly the attributes other reviewers have reported. The chorus and the cannons make it. I listened on a pair of Definitive Tecnology Mythos One tower speakers and a Definitive Technology Super Cube 2 subwoofer. I set the subwoofer to a "normal" level, not artificially boosted. I want the sub set so that the bass end of orchestral music sounds natural. With the volume set to about actual orchestral hall level, I was blown out of my chair! Those cannons shook the floor, my chair and my ribcage. The chorus was so emotionally powerful, and the orchestra played beautifully. I have another version of the 1812 that pales in comparison to this recording. As an aside, I would say that having a quality subwoofer will allow you to hear the low end, and nuances thereof, that are not audible with most towers or bookshelfs. It was with some reluctance that I believed this after many years of refusing to use a sub. I always thought that people used them to WAY overboost the bass to un-natural levels, and you can certainly do that, but you don't have to. If the recording engineers accurately capture the bass, it will be revealed with a good sub.
Michael Guerra,M.D.
Kerrville, Texas
Customer Rating:
Summary: Tchaikovsky is at his finest
Comment: Canons resound at the climax of the story which is started by a choral. It is easy to imagine being one of Napoleon's troops advancing toward Moscow with canon balls taking out comrades on our right and left. The courage of the Russian defenders can be felt.
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