Red Poppy
Gliere's music sounds like it was written at least half a century earlier than it actually  was. A composer who lived until mid-century, you'd never guess that he wasn't a contemporary of  Tchaikovsky. His ballet music has the same Romantic sheen to it, with sweeping violin melodies  and characterful individual dances. What he lacks is Tchaikovsky's sense of symphonic continuity,  but his sense of dramatic timing seems to have been spot on, at least as far as this work is  concerned. The only part of it that's at all well known is the "Russian Sailors' Dance," but there's  lots more besides that's every bit as entertaining, so all credit to Naxos for giving us the complete  work in such a fine performance at budget price.--David Hurwitz