Svetlanov conducts 'The Fair' from "Études-Tableaux" - Rachmaninoff orch. Respighi

Rachmaninoff wrote two sets of "Études-Tableaux" for solo piano and in 1929, Serge Koussevitzky suggested to the composer that some of them would make ideal orchestral pieces. Rachmaninoff was highly delighted with the idea and chose five of them for Respighi to orchestrate. The original piano pieces had no descriptive titles, other than "Pictorial Studies" for each set. However, for the orchestrated items, Rachmaninoff gave Respighi some suggestions and we hear the shortest of them, entitled "La Foire." It comes from a concert given in London's Royal Festival Hall in1999 by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the distingushed Russian conductor, Yevgeny Svetlanov. As will be seen from the CD cover, it's part of a highly colourful selection of French and Russian music recently released by ICA Classics. (From ICAC 5181).