Musorgsky and His Circle: A Russian Musical Adventure
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.74 (852 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0385353855 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 496 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-12-09 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
From Booklist *Starred Review* Few influential artistic friendships have had more participants, lasted longer, or been more consequential than that of five Russians who stormed the heights of Western music in the third quarter of the nineteenth century. A masterpiece of Russian cultural history. In absorbing dicusssion of virtually every bit of his production, Walsh argues that Mussorgsky invariably chose emotional expression and the rhythms of Russian speech rather than the rules of classical form to shape his music, outstandingly in his 60 songs and transcendent opera, Boris Godunov. Though Mily Balakirev, Aleksandr Borodin, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov did have predecessors—principally Mikhail Glinka—in building a truly Russian art music, they put it on its feet despite lack of musical education beyond piano tutoring anywhere in Ru
"Good for the throne" according to M. M. V. Vooren. I love Musorgsky's music. I bought this book and the one by David Brown, as well, hoping to find fascinating reading in both of them. Stephen Walsh received much praise for this work. I got the book on April 2Good for the throne I love Musorgsky's music. I bought this book and the one by David Brown, as well, hoping to find fascinating reading in both of them. Stephen Walsh received much praise for this work. I got the book on April 23rd, and I have now labored my way through it all the way to page 67. We are July 20th. I have always been an avid reader, I love to read good books,. rd, and I have now labored my way through it all the way to page 67. We are July 20th. I have always been an avid reader, I love to read good books,. Thorough up to a point, but slightly biased and with a surprising omission Julian Grant In the last 20 years it has suddenly become cool to write about 19th century Russian Music - long dismissed as anti-intellectual, gimcrack and populist by the (usually Germanic) music scholars, writers such as Richard Taruskin, Marina Frolova-Walker, David Brown, Edward Garden and more have devoted serious study to the tradition, and put it in context, and. Good material on the Russian Five An interesting book. Good material on the Russian Five. The writing style was a bit tedious however.
The emergence of Russian classical music in the nineteenth century in the wake of Mikhail Glinka comprises one of the most remarkable and fascinating stories in all musical history. In the background such important figures as Vissarion Belinsky and Nikolay Chernïshevsky shape the cultural milieu, while the godfather of the kuchka, critic and scholar Vladimir Stasov, is seen offering sometimes combative support. The five men who came together in the Russian capital of St. We see Borodin composing music while conducting research in chemistry (“he would jump up and run back to the laboratory to make sure nothing had burnt out or boiled over there, meanwhile filling the corridor with improbable sequences of ninths or sevenths”); Balakirev tutoring Musorgsky (“Balakirev could not remedy the defects in his pupil’s character, but he could confront him with works of genius”); Cui doggedly producing operas during breaks from his career as a military fortifications instructor. Friends, competitors, and creative intellectuals whose ambitions and ideas reflect the ferment of their times, Mily Balakirev, César Cui, Alexander Borodin, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, and—most important of all—Modest Musorgsky, come wonderfully to life in this extended account.The detail is engrossing. How this happened is the subject of Stephen Walsh's brilliant composite portrait of the group known in the West as the Five, and i
He was deputy music critic of The Observer for nearly twenty years. His two-volume Stravinsky is regarded as the standard biography of that composer. Stephen Walsh is a professor of music at Cardiff University and the author of a number of books on musical subjects. He now broadcasts frequently on BBC Radio 3 and writes reviews for a var