Claudio Abbado - Mussorgsky: Symphonic Works (Remastered) (2014)

This is a well-merited reissue of some Mussorgsky rarities by one of his most intelligent and forceful modern champions, Claudio Abbado. Four of them (orchestrated by the indefatigable Rimsky-Korsakov) are real collectors' items—an entrancing priestesses' chorus from Act 4 of Salammbo (they seem to have a drop of Polovtsian blood in their veins), a vehement chorus, Joshua, also originating in Salammbo and with a languorous middle section, The destruction of Sennacherib, and a less distinguished temple chorus which is all that survives of Oedipus in Athens. The original version of St John's Night on the Bare Mountain is terrifyingly played, and the splendid performances of the two Khovanshchina excerpts anticipate Abbado's later DG record of the whole opera (11/90). The only reservations in recommending this fascinating record are the obscure words of the chorus and, now, the replacement of David Lloyd-Jones's original note with a brief, anonymous effort in four languages.