Paul Ben-Haim’s 1945 Pastorale…is infused with a kind of “Middle-Eastern” flavor in its melodies, beginning with the clarinet playing a “sweet shepherd’s tune”—again all well-integrated with the other instruments and with enough variety of mood, texture, and expressive ideas that the work’s 16-plus minutes go by easily and without ever seeming long for the material. Like Sowash’s concerto, this is excellent concert music that deserves wider exposure. Film composer John Williams contributes the disc closer, Viktor’s Tale, from the film The Terminal. It has all the melodic charm, rhythmic lift, and colorful atmosphere we associate with Eastern European folk music. And all of this is performed with obvious enthusiasm and appropriate stylistic flair by American clarinetist David Drosinos, accompanied by the technically fine and warmly sonorous St. Petersburg Symphony and expertly recorded at St. Petersburg’s Melodia Studios…this is really worth a listen. © 2012 ClassicsToday.com Read complete review