This album of orchestral showpieces features four of the five members of the Mighty Handful, a group of Russian composers who, during the second half of the 19th century, collaborated to create a distinct national style. The recorded works illustrate different aspects of their endeavors - both in terms of the musical means they employ and their subject matter. Orientalism is one of the typical features of the music of the group, as witness Balakirev's Islamey - employing material from the Caucasus Mountains - and Borodin's Polovtsian Dances, describing the revels of a nomadic eastern tribe during a 12th-century raid into the Russian lands. The most individual of the group was Modest Mussorgsky, with a musical language both powerful and startlingly vivid in imagination. His celebrated Pictures from an Exhibition was composed in 1874 as a tribute to a recently deceased artist friend, and takes in such specifically Russian elements as the fairy-tale witch Baba Yaga and the Great Gate of Kiev. Originally written for the piano it is here performed in the 1922 orchestration by Maurice Ravel. Also by Mussorgsky, the opening Night on the Bare Mountain paints a witch's Sabbath in bold brushstrokes, and was re-orchestrated by Rimsky-Korsakov after the composer's death. It is his version, with more sumptuous orchestral textures and a tighter formal plan that is heard here, performed by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Lan Shui.

Tracklist:

Night On Bald Mountain (Orch. N. Rimsky-Korsakov)
Pictures At An Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): Promenade I
Pictures At An Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): I. Gnomus
Pictures At An Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): Promenade II
Pictures At An Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): II. Il Vecchio Castello
Pictures At An Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): Promenade III
Pictures At An Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): III. Tuileries [Dispute D'enfants Après Jeux]
Pictures At An Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): IV. Bydło
Pictures At An Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): Promenade IV
Pictures At An Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): V. Ballet Of Unhatched Chicks In Their Shells
Pictures At An Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): VI. Samuel Goldenberg And Schmuÿle
Pictures At An Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): VII. Limoges, Le Marché [La Grande Nouvelle]
Pictures At An Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): Viiia. Catacombæ [Sepulcrum Romanum]
Pictures At An Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): Viiib. Con Mortuis In Lingua Mortua
Pictures At An Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): IX. The Hut On Fowl's Legs [Baba-Yagá]
Pictures At An Exhibition (Orch. M. Ravel): X. The Great Gate Of Kiev
Islamey, Op. 18 (Orch. S. Lyapunov)
Prince Igor (Excerpts Orch. N. Rimsky-Korsakov & A. Glazunov): Polovtsian Dances. Introduction
Prince Igor (Excerpts Orch. N. Rimsky-Korsakov & A. Glazunov): Polovtsian Dances. Wild Dance Of The Men
Prince Igor (Excerpts Orch. N. Rimsky-Korsakov & A. Glazunov): Polovtsian Dances. General Dance [1]
Prince Igor (Excerpts Orch. N. Rimsky-Korsakov & A. Glazunov): Polovtsian Dances. Dance Of The Boys [1]
Prince Igor (Excerpts Orch. N. Rimsky-Korsakov & A. Glazunov): Polovtsian Dances. Gliding Dance Of The Maidens
Prince Igor (Excerpts Orch. N. Rimsky-Korsakov & A. Glazunov): Polovtsian Dances. Dance Of The Boys [2]
Prince Igor (Excerpts Orch. N. Rimsky-Korsakov & A. Glazunov): Polovtsian Dances. General Dance [2]
Prince Igor (Excerpts Orch. N. Rimsky-Korsakov & A. Glazunov): Polovtsian Dances. Più Animato

UPC: 7318599924120
Label: Bis
Release Date: 4.9.21
Format: CD

Balakirev / Singapore Symphony Chorus / Shui - Russian Spectacular (CD)