Jarvi's determination not to treat Le baiser de la fee as minor Stravinsky has some queer consequences: it is perhaps understandable that Elgar's First Symphony should suddenly appear to be evoked around fig. 209—the opening theme of the Elgar does have a slight kinship with Tchaikovsky's None but the lonely heart, especially when it is quoted, as ere, over a slow-treading bass line, but why should I be reminded of a phrase in The Dream of Gerontius a page or two later, or of Tristan und Isolde, even, not long afterwards? Pure fancy, no doubt, or an over-heated imagination, but Jarvi's seriousness, alongside his careful concern for the dance element of the music and for ''the muse of Tchaikovsky'' that was its inspiration, may have something to do with it as well: if you have ever thought of this exquisite score as 'marginal' to Stravinsky's output, a work to be heard once in a blue moon but not to live with, this performance might change your mind.
The LP recording was so good that the CD could hardly a sensational ear-opener by comparison, but it does have a welcome extra touch of bloom, and it is nice to be a foot or two closer to the delightful woodwind playing. Strongly recommended in either version.'