In 1997, during the initial stages of buying new Hi-fi-equipment, I listened to music I knew best from CD's I possessed. As a service to the buyer better Hi-fi-shops play CD's of excellent sound quality as to promote their equipment. One of those was Exotic Dances performed by the Minnesota Orchestra under Eije Oue. I was amazed. Better sound quality I had never experienced and maybe that was due to the better equipment on which it was played but also that the musical quality of this orchestra recorded by Reference Recordings was a revelation. Most pieces on this CD are very wellknown, but Mr. Oue possesses the power to unveil hidden treasures within the music. Listen to the astounding power in Richard Strauss' Dance of the Seven Veils from Salome, the explosions of beats on the bassdrum are breathtakingly realistic. The influence of oriental music on the composers of the first decades of the last century is evident. Stravinsky and Ravel, each in their own way, picked up the scent of mystic enchantment that surrounded the artforms of that area. In jazz-circles this influence was earlier apparent and many so-called classical composers gave that influence a place in their work. Rimsky-Korsakov, being Stravinsky's teacher, greatly contributed to this phenomenon.