Russia's Most Influential Composer...

A look at one of Russia's most influential composers - a teacher of Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and many others, and composer of such great works as Scheherazade, Antar, and Flight of the Bumblebee.

🎁 FREE
Accelerate your ear training, sight reading, and musicianship skills with this free mini-course:

Your journey towards musical mastery begins here... 🛤️

Script by Simon Gijbels
Narrated by Oscar Osicki

0:00 - Introduction
1:09 - Early Life
2:37 - The Mighty Handful
4:56 - Master of Orchestration and Storytelling
6:38 - Antar
10:34 - Legacy

[bearcb]

Another underappreciated Russian composer is Scriabin. Hearing his Symphony number 4 made me realize how much Stravinsky owes to him.

[majorsynthqed]

I have always considered Scheherazade one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever composed.

[thesilvershining]

It boils down to taste. I admire ALL the Russian composers but Tchaikovsky was the whole package. Along with being one of the top melody kings in music history, he wrote timeless beautiful world-popular masterpieces in all genres (opera, symphony, concerto, chamber, choral) and he single-handedly elevated and evolved ballet music into a sophisticated symphonic storytelling medium.

[Sofa_Leonteva]

Being russian myself, its wonderful for me to hear about Rimski-Korsakov from a foreigner. This composer is not that popular in Russia either. Only few operas, such as Sadko, are widely known. Thank you for telling about "the five" who contributed so greatly into russian culture.

[KowjjaMusic]

Borodin is one of the few people in history to have notable accomplishments in two totally different fields : classical music composition and organic chemistry

Also the flight of the bumblebee comes from the opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan and honestly it's worth a full listening/watching
Rimsky-Korsakov is definitely an inspiring man for sure

[dorianmclean]

Symphony musician here....
Totally hooked on Russian composers.
Magnificent

[abdovvd]

Rimski-Korsakov is off the chain, I adore his pieces the sheer of details in his works are just out of this world

[ilyalevin]

fun fact: Rimsky-Korsakoff was known to be a synesthete. The rich colors of his orchestrations were literally colors in his mind.

[HoH]

Scheherazade is easily one of my favourite symphonies. Thank you so much for your work, a superb video (as always)! My partner and I went to a Rismky-Korsakov concert as one of our first dates. Still together, many years later. 😄

[kovesp]

Small correction. Cui's name is pronounced close to Kyui (certainly not "Sui"), it is written as Кюи in Cyrillic.

[TerryMetz]

Rimsky-Korsakov's music captured my imagination in college. He still remains one of my most favorite composers.

[MrKurtank]

As an avid, untrained, listener to 'classical' music for many years R-K became an early favourite and I love him more now than ever. He not only had great ideas for tunes, he had the genius of imagination to express them in ways that never tire the ear. 100% agree with your presentation. Thank you.

[bassooness]

Rimski-Korsakov is the definition of "practice makes better", it surprised me to know he had not been studying in a conservatory since he was a child but much later in life. Debunks the myth that for you to be successful in something, specially music, you need to start as young as possible. A lot of time, patience and effort is needed regardless, but what makes the difference is how much your passion burns for you to do something about it.

[jeffwatkins]

Like most Westerners, I began with Tchaikovsky and still love his music. But The Five soon garnered first my interest then my passion, with Rimskii at their head. I'm especially fond of his operas Sadko and Coq d'Or (Zolotoy Pyetushok). Not to forget Mussorgsky's Boris and/or Khovanschina along with Borodin's Igor. Wonderful sounds! Thanks for this excellent overview, not to mention directing me to Antar. I was aware of it by name but have never heard it all the way through. That must change! BTW, I own and often reference Rimskii's orchestration manual.

[Art-Bakman]

Thank you for such good video about Rimsky-Korsakov. I'm from Russia and I respect this channel for such deep understanding of Russian music.

I love Rimsky-Korsakov very much and my favorite work by him is the opera "The legend of the invisible city of Kitezh". It is a Russian analogue of "Parsifal".

[markedwards]

Very good video, sad that it's let down by some errors! The narrator miss pronounces Cui's and Stassov's names and the second photo of The Mighty Handful is not of them, but Tchaikovsky and Ippolitov-Ivanov. Later, when giving an example of Anton Rubinstein's music, a page from Dvorak's New World Symphony is shown!

[adambernstein]

Thankyou for an excellent programme, and extremely well presented. I wish you continued success.

[calebmeadows]

For me, the difference is Tchaikovsky worked in so many different styles while also being a master of melody. That's why so many of his works (Nutcracker, Swan Lake, 6th Symphony, Violin Concerto) are played all the time all around the world.

[ElsieDreamWorld]

Amazing video. Thank you so very much for telling us about that great composer I have loved since a little girl, specially because of Scheherazade. It was my father’s most beloved music. Thanks again.

[ChrisMuellerMusic]

This video is pricelessly good! Thank you Oscar, for expanding my musical horizon once again! I am off listening to Antar now