One of the glories of the Vox catalogue is the series of recordings made by the St. Louis Symphony and Leonard Slatkin at the beginning of their notable partnership. They have come up splendidly in these latest Audiophile transfers (see below) with Ivan the Terrible (Tsar Ivan IV) no-less successful in terms of performance and reproduction, Prokofiev’s sizzling scores for Eisenstein’s Ivan films (three intended, two made) turned into a concert work by Abram Stasevich and included in Prokofiev’s catalogue as Opus 116. Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus give a terrific in-Russian account of music that thrills and scintillates, aspires and moves, bound by the imposing English narration from Arnold Voketaitis who also portrays the Tsar himself. Atmospheric and vivid, Prokofiev’s descriptive and painterly music is brought off brilliantly and sensitively by Slatkin’s St. Louis forces, the conductor inspiring everyone to give of their best, with the music and us as beneficiaries. It may be that not all the narration has made it to this latest, and wholly excellent, transfer – space, clarity, impact and colour entwined – for I have no knowledge of the original LPs, yet a previous CD issue included added-on bells at the very end that are not heard here. VOXNX3045CD. There should be one more Slatkin Vox release, Russian faves including Pictures at an Exhibition, Night on Bare Mountain, and In the Steppes of Central Asia.
https://www.naxosdirect.co.uk/labels/vox-classics-26971