The music of the Russian composer Liadov is small-scale but beautifully turned, rhythmically fresh, varied and above all, full of colour and vitality. As befitted a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov, his command of the orchestra was second to none, and his ability to create an appropriate sense of atmosphere, as in the portrait of the witch ‘Baba-Yaga’, was remarkable. Also inspired by Russian folk legend are The Enchanted Lake, dating from 1909, and Kikimora, which evokes one of the ugliest of Russian demons, the troublesome wife of the house-spirit, the Domovoi.