A Russian Legacy

A selection of Russian music on this BBC Music mag cover disk from the issue which coincided with the Tchaikovsky week that BBC Radio 3 did last year. The main featured work is by Tchaikovsky, Symphony No 2 "Little Russian", played by the BBC Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda. Tchaikovsky always had more feeling for the European tradition than for any kind of Russian nationalism but the influence of his homeland still permeates most of his music and this symphony is no exception with some Ukrainian folk songs being used as a basis for the finale. It is also a predominantly sunny work with none of the angst and shadows of his later work. The Ulster Orchestra play the other two works on the disk. Alexander Anissimov conducts them in Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky, while Takuo Yuasa conducts Tamara by Balakirev. The theme used by Arensky is from a Children's song by Tchaikovsky and is a typical melody given characteristic Tchaikovskyesque orchestrations by Arensky. Balakirev's symphonic poem is based on a gory tale from a poem by Lermontov set in the Caucasus and it foreshadows Rimsky-Korsakov with certain passages reminiscent of Sheherazade.