Kismet is one of those shows that succeeds in spite of itself -- even in the musical's original incarnation during the early '50s, it seemed kitschy and unwieldy, and only a newspaper strike prevented negative reviews from staking it out to a quick death; it lasted long enough to attract the attention of MGM in Hollywood, where Vincente Minnelli (with a little help from Stanley Donen) turned out one of his least interesting musicals based on it. What makes the piece work, whether on stage or screen, is the Borodin melodies, which are so compelling that they overcome the weaknesses in the libretto. And so listeners have ended up with Kismet as recorded by MGM, the original cast album, and re-recordings by Mantovani and others, leading up to this grand production, featuring the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul Gemignani and starring Samuel Ramey, Julia Migenes, Jerry Hadley, Mandy Patinkin, Ruth Ann Swenson, and Dom DeLuise. It's so strong in all departments that it's easily the version to be preferred, with only the MGM soundtrack as a potential rival -- Gemignani (who also served as music director of the recording) manages to walk a fine line between the grandiose and the playful, and captures all of the best elements of both. Ramey and company put a lot into their work and it pays dividends, as the piece grows on you in their hands; it's still not much of a play or a musical, but it is diverting fun here, with at least as much personality as performers such as Howard Keel and Dolores Gray brought to it in Hollywood. The CD edition has been mastered in 20-bit digital audio as well, which makes it very close and vivid.