The composer of the popular ballet The Seasons, Alexander Glazunov was one of the most influential composers working in Russia in the early part of the twentieth century. Dismissing modernism, he continued to write in an attractive and popular romantic idiom.

Glazunov was a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov, whose colourful use of the orchestra spills over into his early work, Suite Caractéristique. A sense of drama unfolds in the brilliant and often turbulent Le Chant du Destin, a score of tremendous impact. The Préludes rather belie their simple title, the music packed with energy and rhythmic action.