Best here is the sequence from The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh, which is generally well played, especially the closing ‘Battle of Kershenets’. But the principal draw, Sheherazade, is for much of the time a frustrating mixture of wilful exaggeration and mind-dulling routine. For example, the swift coda to ‘The Young Prince and Princess’ sounds uncomfortably rushed, unlike, say, Kyrill Kondrashin who, while also favouring a fairly quick tempo, shapes the music so beautifully that the effect is entirely natural. And why, come the thrilling climax to ‘The Shipwreck’, does Yuri Temirkanov ask his timpanist to indulge a crudely accelerating roll (at around 8'56")? To be fair, the ‘Festival at Baghdad’ itself is often excitingly played but ‘The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship’ has little suggestion of sea spray about it and ‘The Kalender Prince’ virtually nothing to distinguish it from dozens of other versions that have appeared over the years and that have since vanished from memory.

Temirkanov has made many fine records but were you to chance upon this before the best of the rest you would hardly be inspired to venture further. Other than that, I can report reasonable sound which isn’t actually that much of an improvement over the truly exceptional (mostly analogue) Sheherazades that have preceded it, namely (and in addition to Kondrashin) Reiner, Dorati, Beecham and Maazel. All tell a more seductive and engaging tale than is offered by Temirkanov and his St Petersburg forces. The (excellent) solo violinist isn’t credited.