Sunday Classics preview: Warming up with Rimsky-Korsakov

Admit it, you've had a secret desire to hear Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" played on the bayan (an accorion to us). Am I right?

by Ken

It seems kind of unfair to remember a composer as important both historically and artistically as Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for works that most often find their way onto pops concerts. It would be a lot more unfair, though, to fail to show proper respect for these works. There's a reason why they're as popular as they are.

Some other time we can try to explore the rest of Rimsky's output. For tonight we have the Russian Easter Overture and Rimsky's homage to Spain, the Capriccio espagnol. Why don't we just plunge right in with the Russian Easter Overture, than which there isn't much better music to get the blood racing?


RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Russian Easter Overture, Op. 36

Orchestra of the Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris, Manuel Rosenthal, cond. Adès, recorded c1967

I suppose I should have said something insightful, or in some way helpful, about the piece, and I'm sure as I was getting to know it I must have read a bunch of program and liner notes, which probably did help me in some way get "into" it. But mostly it was a matter of listening to the thing repeatedly, so that after a while it became part of my basic consciousness.

Still, in the interest of general consciousness-raising, we've got a bit of background, cribbed from the Wikipedia article on the piece, as well as antoher performance of it, on the other side of the click-through.

FOR MORE ON THE RUSSIAN EASTER OVERTURE, AND
THEN RIMSKY'S CAPRICCIO ESPAGNOL, CLICK HERE.

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