Moscow Symphony Orchestra review

Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 07:40:08 
From: Garry Smith 

"The Moscow Symphony Orchestra plays the Music of Deep Purple"
Conductor : Constantine Krimets.
Arrangers : Stephen Reeve and Martin Riley.

UK details : Cromwell Productions CPCD018.
Japan : Zero Records XRCN-1022.
Recorded "live in Moscow during April 1992" - but it's not a concert recording, because there's no crowd noises. Don't know if it's still available.

Time : 57 minutes.

1. Smoke on the Water : gallops along quite well.

2. Space Truckin' : lively, finishes quietly, introducing.....

3. Child In Time : slow and melancholy, builds up to loud and stately where you'd expect it to. Middle section is quiet. Reminds me of "April" in places.

4. Black Night : lots of brass and tympani

5. Lazy : lovely intro, just like the original - but after that the orchestra tries to sound "raunchy".

6. The Mule : has a drum solo, of course!

7. Pictures of Home : OK, short (under 3 minutes).

8. Strange Kind of Woman : under 2 minutes, an intro for....

9. Burn : one of the best on the CD.

10. Highway Star : starts with a fanfare! The music is becoming livelier as we're getting near the end....

11. Fireball : too fast, although they take the "Magic woman..." bits slowly and quietly.

12. Coda and Reprise : final movement incorporating themes from the other tunes.

It's a personal thing whether you like orchestras playing rock. This one has been arranged well, and it's played well, with enthusiasm. Overall, not bad.

There is a story that Ritchie had agreed to play on it, and actually had his plane ticket to Moscow, but cancelled at the last minute.

This seems to be contradicted by the sleeve notes, which say that the arrangers were "determined to achieve something different....using only the voices of the orchestra without the interference of electronic instruments." Of course, these notes could have been written after the event.


Dave Hodgkinson
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