Throughout the history of film music, there have been many cases in those which instead of using a music composed originally for the movie, it has been opted for using music previously composed, being the classical music a gender to which has been appealed with much frequency; perhaps the example most recalled will be 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). For Anna Karenina it has been selected Piotr Tchaikovsky's music, and more concretely his Symphony Nr.6, the famous "Pathetique", as musical base of the film. Evidently we can not argued on Tchaikovsky's music quality; it would be, on the other hand, debatable if it might have been better an original composition to accompany the cinematographic images, and in this sense the truth is that the election has been successful, since the music of the russian composer encases very well with the images and with the tragic feeling of the immortal romantic novel. The performance is in the hands of the St.Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the city on which was premiered the famous work of the genial composer. It is conducted by the prestigious conductor Sir Georg Solti, in one of his last projects, since regrettably he died on last August, letting after him an impressive musical legacy. There is also short fragments of other pieces from Tchaikovsky, as Swan Lake, fragments of works by Sergei Rachmaninov, Sergei Prokofiev, and even some Russian traditional songs. It is a very agreeable CD, of impeccable manufacturing, that without doubt is more oriented toward a public more enthusiastic with classical music than to the film soundtrack's fans. A.M.

/ LONDON 455360-2 / 64'