Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Tsar Saltan - Suite, The Flight of the Bumble Bee

Rimsky-Korsakov’s 1888 suite for symphony orchestra is a dazzling evocation of 19th-century Russian “orientalism.” Conjuring exotic tableaux in the most vivid colors, *Scheherazade*’s four movements evoke an intensely animated Arabian vision. Inspired by the folk stories of the Islamic Golden Age, Rimsky-Korsakov composed music based on characters and events of *One Thousand and One Nights*. Christopher Warren-Green is best-known as a conductor, but before he took to the rostrum, he was leader of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra. His solos in this recording of *Scheherazade* are utterly beguiling, and Vladimir Ashkenazy achieves a seductive performance from the orchestra. The album is completed with the orchestral suite from Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera *The Tale of Tsar Saltan* and a thrilling, full-orchestra rendition of his much-loved “The Flight of the Bumblebee.”