Borodin: Polovtsian Dances - Balakirev: Symphony No. 1

We continue our exploration of Sir Thomas Beecham’s recording legacy with a quite rarely recorded piece of music, Balakirev’s first symphony. It is a work that took a long time to mature, often interrupted by the vicissitudes of Balakirev's life and that of the Five, and is typical of his style, with a very beautiful slow orientalist movement.