This makes a most recommendable compilation, with Andrew Davis’s bluff and bouncy readings of the three symphonies and the Prince Igor items well supplemented by two favourite extra items. The original LPs, I remember, made the Toronto performances seem a little dull, but with the extra brightness of the CD transfer their amiable qualities are clearly conveyed. There is no neurasthenia in Davis’s view of Borodin here, consistently strong, purposeful and well-sprung, with the warmly lyrical folk flavour of the themes regularly brought out. The recording may lack a genuine pianissimo, but that matches the rugged quality of the performances, which yield some fine playing, notably from the wind and brass principals. Davis opts for unexaggerated speeds in the symphonies, never letting the music either drag in slow movements or be raced off its feet in the fast ones. No. 2 may have received more refined readings, but this is as winning as any.

-- Edward Greenfield, Gramophone [10/1996]