has moved on from the , but there are plenty of recordings in the can, including this 2023 release, the second in a series devoted to 's ballets. The first item in 's series, devoted to major crowd-pleasers and , was a big success. This one is perhaps more specialized, but it is no less artfully done, and it landed on classical best-seller lists in the spring of 2023. In the 1920s, shocked the musical world by announcing his admiration for ; modernists howled, but it turned out that was the real radical. Here, pairs some little-known arrangements of excerpts 's ballet with 's (" "). In 's hands, the influence of on is crystal clear here. Some of the arrangements of were made for a reduced group, and these sound very Stravinskian. Sample the "Bluebird Pas de deux" coda from Act III with its spare wind lines, but it is not just these that succeed here. The entire performance of is beautifully done, with the string parts shaped into graceful, economical turns that betray their ancestry in Tchaikovskian ballet. performed this work with the many times, and there are few other performances of this work that render the music as elegantly and confidently. With a fine sense of immediacy in the live sound, this album is finding a place in collections. ~ James Manheim