NOSPR / Lawrence Foster / Alexander Kniazev - NOSPR

Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev – three composers the world fell in love with deciding their music to be the perfect reflection of ‘Russian soul’ . The first one – a descendant of rebellious boyars aristocracy – wrote music which was strange for his contemporaries; seemingly romantic in spirit, somehow rooted in Russian folklore and yet shockingly innovative. Sunrise over the Moskva River, a several minutes long symphonic poem filled with poignant lyricism, was used as an introduction to Kchovanshchina, a rather dark opera – like a fresco -a painted picture of doom, in which individuals are reduced to meaningless pawns on the history check-board.

The second one was born to a modest family of lesser civil servants for the Tsar – his ambition was to compose music which retains characteristic features of Russian style while so technically perfect as to appeal to the tastes and expectations of the western audiences. Such is The Orchestral Suite no 3, dedicated to Maks Erdmannsdörfer, first performed in 1885 conducted by Hans von Bülow; the piece whose title allegedly ‘did not matter’, as Tchaikovsky was going to write another symphony.

In the creative output of the third composer, who was a forerunner of neoclassicism, any references to the great Russian tradition intertwines with his own, modernistic idiom – like in The Symphony- Concerto, for years regarded to be unplayable, is still a real test of any cellist’s craftsmanship. Three different countenances seen as reflections in the same mirror of mythical Russia.