A precocious pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov combined national inspiration with masterful compositional technique. Dating from the earlier part of his career, as do all the works on this recording, the two Serenades demonstrate his facility for handling simple melodic material. The two Overtures based on popular Greek themes reflect the contemporary fascination in Russian music for the exoticism of the music of neighbouring countries. The Triumphal March makes imaginative use of the Philadelphia camp-meeting song best known as ‘John Brown’s Body’, while the suite Chopiniana, an orchestral arrangement of pieces by Chopin which received its première under Rimsky-Korsakov, was eventually to form the basis of the ballet Chopiniana, better known outside Russia as Les Sylphides.