Yes needs a strong keyboard player, and Igor Khoroshev is capable, but didn't really blow anyone away. When they decided to just have a real orchestra instead of keyboards (most of the time), it seemed like the punchline to a joke, but it also was a cool idea, and for the most part I like Magnification. I think it worked.
Magnification and The Ladder are pretty different, though, and maybe for that reason I've never considered this to be a "period" of Yes. The period of great wandering, perhaps. Open Your Eyes is another oddball from this period.