Modest Mussorgsky: Dawn on the Moskva-River: Make music part of your life series

Mussorgsky Dawn on the Moskva-River

  Mark Farago

Mussorgsky: Dawn on the Moskva-River

Introduction to the Opera “Khovanshchina“
Edition: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

USSR Symphony Orchestra
Evgeny Svetlanov, conductor

Pictures: Moskva-river…

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Alexander Porfir’yevich Borodin, In the Steppes of Central Asia, In the Steppes Of Central Asia: great compositions/performances

Alexander Porfir’yevich Borodin, In the Steppes of Central Asia, In the Steppes Of Central Asia

  Naxos
Alexander Porfir’yevich Borodin
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniel Nazareth, Various Artists
In the Steppes of Central Asia
101 Great Orchestral Classics, Vol. 1
8.551141
http://www.classicsonline.com/catalog…
http://www.naxoslicensing.com/

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Modest Mussorgsky – Saint John’s Night on the Bare Mountain (Original score) / Abbado – LSO: great compositions/performances

FROM:     Panagiotis Papadakos

Modest Mussorgsky – Saint John’s Night on the Bare Mountain (Original score) / Abbado – LSO

The original Mussorgsky score (1867) and not the Rimsky Korsakov one (1886).

From wikipedia:
Night on Bald Mountain is a composition by Modest Mussorgsky that exists in, at least, two versions—a seldom performed 1867 version or a later (1886) and very popular “fantasy for orchestra” arranged by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, A Night on the Bare Mountain (Ночь на лысой горе, Noch’ na lysoy gorye), based on the vocal score of the “Dream Vision of the Peasant Lad” (1880) from The Fair at Sorochyntsi with some revisions, most notably the omission of the choir.[citation needed] There is also a version orchestrated by twentieth-century conductor Leopold Stokowski; this is the version used in the now-classic 1940 Walt Disney animated film Fantasia.

Inspired by Russian literary works and legend, Mussorgsky made a witches’ sabbath the theme of the original tone poem, completed on 23 June 1867 (St. John’s Eve). St. John’s Night on the Bare Mountain and Rimsky-Korsakov’s “musical picture” Sadko (also composed in 1867) share the distinction of being the first tone poems by Russian composers.

As with so much of Mussorgsky’s music, the work had a tortuous compositional history and was arranged after his death in 1881 by his friend and fellow member of The Mighty Handful Rimsky-Korsakov. It was never performed in any form during Mussorgsky’s lifetime.[2] The Rimsky-Korsakov edition premiered in 1886, and has become a concert favorite.

Setting:
Russian legend tells of a witches’ sabbath taking place on St. John’s Night (June 23–24) on the Lysa Hora (Bald Mountain), near Kiev.

Program:
The following program is taken from the score: Сбор ведьм, их толки и сплетни (Assembly of the witches, their chatter and gossip) Поезд Сатаны (Cortège of Satan) Чёрная служба, Messe noire (Black service, Black mass) Шабаш (Sabbath)

More details and a variation to this program may be found in a letter written by the composer to Vladimir Nikolsky: “So far as my memory doesn’t deceive me, the witches used to gather on this mountain, gossip, play tricks and await their chief — Satan. On his arrival they, i.e. the witches, formed a circle round the throne on which he sat, in the form of a kid, and sang his praise. When Satan was worked up into a sufficient passion by the witches’ praises, he gave the command for the sabbath, in which he chose for himself the witches who caught his fancy. –So this is what I’ve done.
At the head of my score I’ve put its content:
1. Assembly of the witches, their talk and gossip;
2. Satan’s journey;
3. Obscene praises of Satan; and
4. Sabbath… The form and character of the composition are both Russian and original”.

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Aleksandr Glazunov: Symphony no.6 op.58 (Gennadij Rozhdestvenskij, conductor): make music part of your life series

Aleksandr Glazunov: Symphony no.6 op.58 (Gennadij Rozhdestvenskij, conductor)

Parts/Movements

1. Adagio – Allegro passionato
2. Tema con varazioni
3. Intermezzo. Allegretto
4. Finale. Andante maestoso

Review :

While the Symphony No. 6 in C minor, Op. 58, of 1896 by Alexander Glazunov is not the most personally characteristic of his eight completed symphonies — the optimistic Third or the Olympian Fifth are more typical of his confident symphonic aesthetic — it is arguably the most typically Russian of his symphonies. Part of the reason for this is the scoring — violins in octaves above massed brass at its climaxes à la Tchaikovsky and gorgeously colorful woodwind writing in its central movements — part of it is the themes — ardent and powerful with a yearning quality characteristic of fin de siècle Russian symphonies — but most of it is the furious tone of the opening movement.
******With the darkly unfolding Adagio leading into a Allegro appassionato that balances a passionately despairing first theme with a fervently supplicating second theme, Glazunov’s Sixth sounds like a Russian symphony composed after the death of Tchaikovsky. But the Sixth is more than the work of a symphonic epigone. While the tone of the opening movement sounds typically Russian, its chromatic melodic and cogent harmonic structure makes it sound much more modern than contemporary symphonies by Kalinnikov or even Rachmaninov. Even more modern are the Sixth’s second and fourth movements.
******The second movement is a theme and seven variations that slowly transmutes the tone of the symphony from the fury of the opening movement to one of calm acceptance.
******The brief third-movement Intermezzo that precedes the Finale is lighter in tone than anything else in the symphony.
******The Finale itself is one of Glazunov’s most successful closing movements. With its magisterial Andante maestoso introduction announcing the chorale theme that will ultimately cap the movement, its highly contrasted themes — the first confidently striding in the winds Moderato maestoso, the second a lilting Scherzando theme for the flutes, horns, and strings — the Finale seems at first too episodic to cohere. Glazunov’s superb technical skills, however, form all the Finale’s material into an organic whole and the tone of the Finale — powerfully positive — is altogether Glazunov’s own. ~ James Leonard, Rovi

Read more:
               http://www.answers.com/topic/symphony-no-6-in-c-minor-op-58#ixzz3AkekJ1oA
               http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/5a0988a4-695c-4bff-bc68-4f312427495e.html
              http://www.allmusic.com/composition/symphony-no-6-in-c-minor-op-58-mc0002366895

 

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make music part of your life series Borodin: Steppes of Central Asia – Ashkenazy*

[youtube.com/watch?v=nAnXll57BZ8]

Borodin: Steppes of Central Asia – Ashkenazy*

 

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make music part of your life series: SAMOHI (Philharmonic Orchestra) Procession of the Nobles from “Mlada” Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

[youtube.com/watch?v=GeVZpFjK6lg]

SAMOHI (Philharmonic Orchestra) Procession of the Nobles from “Mlada” Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

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Make Music Part of Your Life Series: Rimsky Korsakov – Dance Of The Tumblers – (What a tremendous amount of energy!)

[youtube.com/watch?v=KVIB3T2Q-sY]

Rimsky Korsakov – Dance Of The Tumblers –

Please remember to visit http://www.youtube.com/user/shreddeds… and sign her petition.

Rimsky Korakov A lively classical instrumental, this recording made in the late 70s.

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Modest Mussorgsky – Saint John’s Night on the Bare Mountain (Original score) / Abbado – LSO

The original Mussorgsky score (1867) and not the Rimsky Korsakov one (1886).

From wikipedia:
Night on Bald Mountain is a composition by Modest Mussorgsky that exists in, at least, two versions—a seldom performed 1867 version or a later (1886) and very popular “fantasy for orchestra” arranged by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, A Night on the Bare Mountain (Ночь на лысой горе, Noch’ na lysoy gorye), based on the vocal score of the “Dream Vision of the Peasant Lad” (1880) from The Fair at Sorochyntsi with some revisions, most notably the omission of the choir.[citation needed] There is also a version orchestrated by twentieth-century conductor Leopold Stokowski; this is the version used in the now-classic 1940 Walt Disney animated film Fantasia.

Inspired by Russian literary works and legend, Mussorgsky made a witches’ sabbath the theme of the original tone poem, completed on 23 June 1867 (St. John’s Eve). St. John’s Night on the Bare Mountain and Rimsky-Korsakov’s “musical picture” Sadko (also composed in 1867) share the distinction of being the first tone poems by Russian composers.

As with so much of Mussorgsky’s music, the work had a tortuous compositional history and was arranged after his death in 1881 by his friend and fellow member of The Mighty Handful Rimsky-Korsakov. It was never performed in any form during Mussorgsky’s lifetime.[2] The Rimsky-Korsakov edition premiered in 1886, and has become a concert favorite.

Setting:
Russian legend tells of a witches’ sabbath taking place on St. John’s Night (June 23–24) on the Lysa Hora (Bald Mountain), near Kiev.

Program:
The following program is taken from the score: Сбор ведьм, их толки и сплетни (Assembly of the witches, their chatter and gossip) Поезд Сатаны (Cortège of Satan) Чёрная служба, Messe noire (Black service, Black mass) Шабаш (Sabbath)

More details and a variation to this program may be found in a letter written by the composer to Vladimir Nikolsky: “So far as my memory doesn’t deceive me, the witches used to gather on this mountain, gossip, play tricks and await their chief — Satan. On his arrival they, i.e. the witches, formed a circle round the throne on which he sat, in the form of a kid, and sang his praise. When Satan was worked up into a sufficient passion by the witches’ praises, he gave the command for the sabbath, in which he chose for himself the witches who caught his fancy. –So this is what I’ve done. At the head of my score I’ve put its content: 1. Assembly of the witches, their talk and gossip; 2. Satan’s journey; 3. Obscene praises of Satan; and 4. Sabbath… The form and character of the composition are both Russian and original”.

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Make Music Part of Your Life Series: Rimsky-Korsakov – Scheherazade Symphonic Suite for Orchestra

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – Rimsky-Korsakov – Scheherazade Symphonic Suite for Orchestra Op.35 – IV. Allegro molto (performed by unknown)

Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (Russian: ??????? ????????? ???????-????????; Russian pronunciation: [n??k??laj ?r?im.sk??j ?kors?k?f]; 18 March [O.S. 6 March] 1844[a 1] — 21 June [O.S. 8 June] 1908) was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.[a 2] He was a master of orchestration. His best-known orchestral compositions—Capriccio Espagnol, the Russian Easter Festival Overture, and the symphonic suite Scheherazade—are staples of the classical music repertoire, along with suites and excerpts from some of his 15 operas. Scheherazade is an example of his frequent use of fairy tale and folk subjects. Rimsky-Korsakov believed, as did fellow composer Mily Balakirev and critic Vladimir Stasov, in developing a nationalistic style of classical music. This style employed Russian folk song and lore along with exotic harmonic, melodic and rhythmic elements in a practice known as musical orientalism, and eschewed traditional Western compositional methods. However, Rimsky-Korsakov appreciated Western musical techniques after he became a professor of musical composition, harmony and orchestration at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1871. He undertook a rigorous three-year program of self-education and became a master of Western methods, incorporating them alongside the influences of Mikhail Glinka and fellow members of The Five. His techniques of composition and orchestration were further enriched by his exposure to the works of Richard Wagner. For much of his life, Rimsky-Korsakov combined his composition and teaching with a career in the Russian military—at first as an officer in the Imperial Russian Navy, then as the civilian Inspector of Naval Bands. He wrote that he developed a passion for the ocean in childhood from reading books and hearing of his older brother’s exploits in the navy. This love of the sea might have influenced him to write two of his best-known orchestral works, the musical tableau Sadko (not his later opera of the same name) and Scheherazade. Through his service as Inspector of Naval Bands, Rimsky-Korsakov expanded his knowledge of woodwind and brass playing, which enhanced his abilities in orchestration. He passed this knowledge to his students, and also posthumously through a textbook on orchestration that was completed by his son-in-law, Maximilian Steinberg. Rimsky-Korsakov left a considerable body of original Russian nationalist compositions. He prepared works by The Five for performance, which brought them into the active classical repertoire (although there is controversy over his editing of the works of Modest Mussorgsky), and shaped a generation of younger composers and musicians during his decades as an educator. Rimsky-Korsakov is therefore considered “the main architect” of what the classical music public considers the Russian style of composition. His influence on younger composers was especially important, as he served as a transitional figure between the autodidactism which exemplified Glinka and The Five and professionally trained composers which would become the norm in Russia by the closing years of the 19th century. While Rimsky-Korsakov’s style was based on those of Glinka, Balakirev, Hector Berlioz, and Franz Liszt, he “transmitted this style directly to two generations of Russian composers” and influenced non-Russian composers including Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Paul Dukas and Ottorino Respighi.

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Great Compositions/Performances: Kyoko Oyagi, plays ALEXANDER BORODIN’s ‘In the steppes of Central Asia’ (arrangement for piano by Ms. Oyagi)

Legendary virtuoso, Kyoko Oyagi, Japanese pianist (International competition Viotti 1st prize) plays Borodin arranged for solo-piano by Kyoko Oyagi.
1999/Tokyo,Japan, Live recording.Most successful Asian descendant pianist of Emil Sauer who combined Franz liszt’s and Russian pianism. Hans Kann’s favorite disciple,大八木恭子.

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GREAT COMPOSERS/COMPOSITIONS: N. Rimsky-Korsakov – The Tale of Tsar Saltan: Suite: Part I

The Tale of Tsar Saltan: Suite from the Opera
by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)
I. Tsar’s Departure and Farewell

• Buy “Rimsky-Korsakov: The Tale of Tsar Saltan – Suite, Op.57 – 1. The Tsar’s departure and Farewell” on

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• Artist
  Philharmonia Orchestra

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Operas[show]
The Tale of Tsar Saltan (Russian: Сказка о царе Салтане, Skazka o Tsare Saltane) is an operain four acts with a prologue, seven scenes, by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The libretto was written by Vladimir Belsky, and is based on the poem of the same name by Aleksandr Pushkin. The opera was composed in 1899–1900 to coincide with Pushkin’s centenary, and was first performed in 1900 inMoscow, Russia.

The lengthy full title of both the opera and the poem is The Tale of Tsar Saltan, of his Son the Renowned and Mighty Bogatyr Prince Gvidon Saltanovich and of the Beautiful Princess-Swan.

Note: The name “Saltan” is often erroneously rendered “Sultan”. Likewise, another mistranslation of the Russian title found in English makes this a “legend” rather than simply a “tale” or “fairytale”.

Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov 

(Russian: Николай Андреевич Римский-Корсаков; Russian pronunciation: [nʲɪkəˌlaj ˌrʲim.skʲɪj ˈkorsəkəf]; 18 March [O.S. 6 March] 1844^{[a 1]} – 21 June [O.S. 8 June] 1908) was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.^{[a 2]} He was a master of orchestration. His best-known orchestral compositions—Capriccio Espagnol, the Russian Easter Festival Overture, and the symphonic suite Scheherazade—are staples of the classical music repertoire, along with suites and excerpts from some of his 15 operas.Scheherazade is an example of his frequent use of fairy tale and folk subjects.

 

Rimsky-Korsakov believed, as did fellow composer Mily Balakirev and critic Vladimir Stasov, in developing a nationalistic style of classical music. This style employed Russian folk song and lore along with exotic harmonic, melodic and rhythmic elements in a practice known as musical orientalism, and eschewed traditional Western compositional methods. However, Rimsky-Korsakov appreciated Western musical techniques after he became a professor of musical composition, harmony and orchestration at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1871. He undertook a rigorous three-year program of self-education and became a master of Western methods, incorporating them alongside the influences of Mikhail Glinka and fellow members of The Five. His techniques of composition and orchestration were further enriched by his exposure to the works of Richard Wagner.

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Glazunov – The Seasons Op.67 Autumn：Petit Adagio

Prominent Russians: Aleksandr Glazunov

August 10, 1865 – March 21, 1936

Portrait photo of Aleksandr Glazunov taken by Alfred Fedetsky. 1899, Kharkov, Ukraine

Aleksandr Glazunov was a Russian composer, professor and rector of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. His works of the late Russian Romantic period reconciled nationalism and cosmopolitanism in Russian music.

Child musical prodigy

Glazunov was born into a wealthy merchant family – his father was a prominent publisher and book trader in St. Petersburg. Glazunov’s mother was a good pianist and had a major influence on Aleksandr’s music education. She hired the best piano teachers for her son. To her great satisfaction, Glazunov was an eager student and as early as 13 he revealed a great talent for composition. In 1879 he met Mily Balakirev, one of the founders of the Russian nationalist school of composers known as The Five or The Mighty Handful.

Impressed by Glazunov’s talent, Balakirev recommended him to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, a composer and a member of The Five. Rimsky-Korsakov took it upon himself to teach Glazunov the theory of composition, harmony and instrumental accompaniment. Glazunov was a bright student and was able to cover the whole Conservatory program in just a year and a half.

Glazunov composed his first symphony at the age of 16, which was first played at a free school concert. It was also later performed at the Moscow Exhibition, conducted by Rimsky-Korsakov. Glazunov’s symphony was very well received and was followed by other works, which were just as fine as his first piece.

Glazunov with Fedor Chaliapin and Vladimir Stasov
Portrait of Alexander Glazunov.

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• Artist
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Borodin – In the Steppes of Central Asia (1880), played on period instruments

In the Steppes of Central Asia (1880)

A “musical tableau” for orchestra by Russian composer and chemist Alexander Borodin (1833-1887), a member of the group of composers known as The Five, or the Mighty Handful. The work was originally intended to celebrate the silver anniversary of the reign of Czar Alexander II, who had expanded the domain of Imperial Russia eastward into Central Asia. The celebration never came to fruition due to the assassination of the Czar; instead the piece was premiered in a concert in 1880 by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and the orchestra of the Russian Opera. Borodin dedicated it to Franz Liszt.

This recording was made by conductor Jos van Immerseel and the Anima Eterna Orchestra, which plays on period instruments.