Listening again to Marriner's beautifully graceful, cantabile account of Apollon, I was reminded more than once of what Stravinsky said about the little Canzonetta by Sibelius that he arranged for eight instruments not long after revisiting Russia for the first time in nearly half a century: ''I like that kind of Northern Italianate melodism—Tchaikovsky had it too—which was a part, and an attractive part, of St Petersburg culture.'' How much of it remained part of his own musical heritage is evident everywhere in this performance, with its finely moulded lines, its elegance and warmth: Tchaikovsky is indeed evoked, and Sibelius too—there is more than a hint of his ''Northern melodism'' in the chaste expressiveness of the pas de deux.
Pulcinella makes a vivid contrast, but it is again the controlled precision of Marriner's direction and the refinement of the solo playing that give this reading, too, a special distinction. With a recording of well-nigh ideal clarity this remains a highly desirable and satisfying coupling.'