This is another highlight worth sampling. The final tracks carry the drifting defeat of snow storms gripping the hearts of the defeated Mediterranean French soldiers. Track 13 uncannily conjures up the snapping and blinding snow in drifts and flurries as the wind howls and whistles. The next track mixes wailing and heroic shouts with whistles of dismay and heroic exultation - a powerful cocktail. The defeat of Napoleon's legions is complete and the great opera ends with a panegyric of victory is which the chorus's shouted hurrahs have no trace of reserve or embarrassment.
Nothing is slurred or fogged.
The final chorus in particular is extremely emotional with an intoxicating sense of journey's-over confidence and a belief in the green hills of tomorrow stretching into the sun dappled distance. All in all this represents is a deeply moving experience. The booklet is pleasingly designed in a rich pine green with a cover picture by Bilibin which in its commanding simplicity links with the art of the Finn, Akseli Gallen-Kalela whose artwork often features on the covers of Sibelius discs. The libretto is in transliterated Russian, English, German and French. The English needs some attentive proof-reading.