 |
|
|
 | | Aleksandr Borodin, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Anatoly Lyadov, César Cui. Paraphrases: 24 Variations and 15 Little Pieces. For Piano. | | Elibron Classics, 2002, 50 pages |
Table of Contents Sample Pages We recommend to print out sample pages to evaluate the quality of a reprint. | | Aleksandr Porfiryevich Borodin (1833-1887), list of works | | | The illegitimate son of Prince Gedeanov of Georgia, Aleksandr Borodin trained as a medical doctor before encountering composer Mily Balakirev, who brought him into the so-called "Mighty Five" and encouraged him to write more music. Borodin, who remained in practice as a medical researcher throughout his life, composed only a few works - most of which are considered masterpieces of Russian nationalist music. |
| César Cui (1835-1918), list of works | |  | | "What Asiatic part-writing have we here?" scribbled Mily Balakirev into a manuscript by his student César Cui. Indeed, despite Cui's obvious musical genius, his contemporaries felt free to criticize his deficiencies - most notably his lack of skill at orchestration. (Upon hearing Cui's opera William Ratcliff, Rimsky-Korsakov groaned, "You can't orchestrate an opera like that!") Cui got his own back, though; during his many years as a music critic, he became known for the caustic wit with which he would skewer other composers and their works. Today, Cui is remembered for his delightful short pieces, as well as for the operas Ratcliff and The Stone Guest. |
| Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov (1855 - 1914), list of works | | | A student and eventual colleague of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov at St. Petersburg Conservatory, Anatoly Lyadov was quickly recognized by his elders as a brilliant new composer whose music bore a distinct nationalist character. Lyadov was handicapped, however, by an inborn indolence that ruined several of his best opportunities for advancement in his chosen field. Perhaps ironically, one of the last mistakes he made paved the way for another composer: when, in 1910, Lyadov failed to deliver a ballet score for Diaghilev, the impresario turned to a young composer who had been aching to try his hand at a ballet: Igor Stravinsky. |
| Nikolai Andreievich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), list of works | | | It was only after becoming a professor of music at the St. Petersburg Conservatory that Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov realized it would behoove him to learn some music theory. Once his studies were finished, he pushed his newfound learning on the rest of the "Mighty Five" - even posthumously "editing" his friends' works to bring them into accord with "the rules." Rimsky-Korsakov is best-remembered for his own works, which include Scheherezade and Capriccio español. |
See items in: Instrumental Solo: Piano
|
