Modest Musorgsky (1839-1881)
Night on Bald Mountain
Songs and Dances of Death (orch. Edi-son Denisov)
Vladislav Sulimsky, bass-baritone
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Alexander Nevsky, Cantata for Mezzo Soprano, Mixed Choir and Orchestra, Op. 78
Agunda Kulaeva, mezzo soprano
A Witches' Sabbath, A Little Dance with the Grim Reaper and The Battle on the Ice. The author of the programme booklet of this CD, Hartmut Lück, gave these head-ings to the three magnificent works recorded for OehmsClassics by the Gürzenich Orchestra with Dmitrij Kitajenko. The Gürzenich Orchestra of Cologne and its Hon-orary Conductor since 2009, Dmitrij Kitajenko, have been united in an outstanding collaboration lasting over the course of decades. Their Tchaikovsky cycle, already now considered a reference recording, was completed in early 2014 with the Sev-enth Symphony and the Third Piano Concerto. Their recording of Tchaikovsky's one act opera Iolanta issued in the summer of 2015, with Olesya Golovneva, Alexander Vinogradov and Andrei Bondarenko in the leading roles, created a sensation and received outstanding reviews in the international specialist press. This highly suc-cessful artistic collaboration was continued with an equally highly praised Rachmani-noff cycle on CD. The Gürzenich Orchestra of Cologne and Dmitrij Kitajenko have dedicated their latest recording to Tchaikovsky's complete ballet music to The Nut-cracker as well as Stravinsky's Divertimento from The Fairy's Kiss.