Unless you're among Ethelbert Nevin's small band of admirers, you'd be apt to pass this one over if you came across it in the CD bin. After all, except for Barber's warmhearted reminiscence of the Palm Court tunes of his childhood, this is all second- or third-tier parlor music. And even if the repertoire aroused your historical curiosity (including your curiosity about the ways in which African-American culture was absorbed by white musicians at the turn of the last century), why would you want to hear it played by a pair of Russians who couldn't possibly have absorbed the very local accent of the music? In fact, though, from Herbert's Joplinesque romp though Nevin's arch Narcissus (a once-familiar stroll that may strike a chord in your unconscious, although you're unlikely to be able to name it) to the cheerfully outdoorsy march that rounds out expatriate Bird's op. 11, nearly all of this innocent music has enough rhythmic insouciance and melodic charm to compensate for its lack of intellectual and emotional substance; and the performances are both idiomatic and tactful, glancing lightly off the music without camping it up. Production values are unexceptional: Documentation is hit and miss (we're not even told that the Barber selections constitute an abridged version of his Souvenirs); notes are brief; sound is fair. But if this CD doesn't make you smile, you're in trouble.

-- Peter J. Rabinowitz, FANFARE [7/2000]