A wonderful release of rare repertoire. But these are not "premier recordings" as Chandos claims.

This is a wonderful release. Every once in awhile, Kirill Karabits comes to life from his usual slumber and inspires his orchestra to play with interest and enthusiasm. We are lucky that this recording is one of those instances. It's glorious music and not often recorded; thus it deserves playing and recording quality of the highest caliber.

Speaking of recordings of this composer, I take to task the Chandos production here which proclaims that these are "premier recordings". They most certainly are not. Not even close. Just a quick glance on my shelves reveals at least 2 labels beat them to it, by a very long way. Naxos recorded the Don Quixote Symphony Engravings and Leyla and Mejnun in 2008; and the Seven Beauties Suite and the entire Path of Thunder Suite in 2012 (all conducted by Dmitry Yablonsky). And Russian Disc recorded the Seven Beauties Suite in 1993 (subsequently reissued on Delos in ​2011, conducted by Rauf Abdullayev). So this 2017 Chandos release is far from being "premier". I normally have the utmost respect and admiration for Chandos and I'm shocked at this blunder.

That being said, there is no denying the SACD sound from Chandos is superior to the standard CD sound provided by Naxos and Delos (although both of those are perfectly fine). It is sumptuous and expands gloriously in climaxes, providing thrillingly dramatic power and majesty to the orchestra. And the playing of the Bournemouth Symphony is beyond praise. This music sounds at times much like Khachaturian, with quite a lot of an epic film score element flavoring it. Great stuff when it's so well recorded and played with the utmost refinement, as here. Highly recommended.