Russian Composers

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's most beloved composition of all, "The Nutcracker, Op.71: No. 12d Character Dances: Trépak (Russian Dance)" is a perfect, and familiar, place to begin our Russian musical expedition, in all its dancing bearded-Cossack glory. Itzhak Perlman's light-speed reading of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumble-Bee" (also known as the Green Hornet theme) will suck the air right out of your lungs with its astonishing display of finger-work. In contrast, the placid, pastoral, emotive nature of Borodin's "String Quartet No. 2 in D Major, III. Notturno: Andante" is not really what you might expect from a highly successful research chemist…which he was. In Next Steps, we move to Russia's love affair with the keyboard.

Some of the most superb — and most demanding — keyboard music of all time flowed from Russian pens. Herbert von Karajan leads the Berlin Philharmonic in the lushness of Alexander Borodin's balletic "Prince Igor." Glenn Gould's perceptive performance from Chopin's Piano Sonata #3 illuminates the legacies of both masters. The rich ferment of St. Petersburg is represented by Alexander Tcherepnin, here brilliantly realized with the Singapore Symphony's rendering of the "Adagio" from Symphony #3.

Continuing our travels through the vastness of the Russian continent, the iconoclastic Galina Ustvolskaya's "Prayer" from Symphony #4 reveals why Shostokovich paid lifelong respect to this Petrograd native. The Tcherepnin dynasty is represented by the patriarch, Nikolai whose mentoring by Rimsky-Korsakov is palpable from "Sketches For Wind Instruments." The humanity and brilliance of Sofia Gubaidulina’s accordion-violin-cello "Silenzio" adds yet another rich hue to this vast Russian palette.

Back before the days of the U.S.S.R., and even after the Revolution, Russia probably produced more world-class composers and classical musicians per capita than any other country in modern history. Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Mussorgsky, Borodin, Stravinsky, Glazunov, Shostakovich, Scriabin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Myaskovsky, and all the other –evs, -ovs, and –skys too numerous to mention gave the Motherland a proud and wide-ranging status in the classical music world. With just over six dozen selections on our playlist, we barely have time to hoist a Stolichnaya and salute our Russian legion with a hearty "Na zdorovia!" We guarantee, though, that you'll find their history as rich as the Fabergé eggs the Tsar used to collect, deep as Lake Baikal, and entrancing as one of Baba Yaga's spells.