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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908): The Sea

Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)

The Sea

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), The Sea

Donald Macleod explores Rimsky-Korsakov’s relationship with the sea.

Donald Macleod explores Rimsky-Korsakov’s relationship with the sea, which progressed from a childhood obsession to a naval career, alongside evocations of the ocean in his music.

Donald Macleod delves into the life and work of one of the most important Russian composers of his age – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.  Rimsky-Korsakov’s music is filled with lush orchestration and hints of orientalism and folk music. These elements and his role as a leading member of “The Mighty Handful” of composers who sought to forge a truly nationalistic music has led him to be regarded as the main architect of the Russian style of composition we know today. In Monday’s episode, Donald explores Rimsky-Korsakov's relationship with the sea, which began as a childhood obsession, before an early naval career, and a civilian job as Inspector of Russia’s Naval Bands brought him into closer proximity to the ocean. Donald also ponders what the ocean represented for Rimsky and for his largely landlocked Russian audience, alongside the various evocations of the sea in his music.

By the Sea, Op 46: The Wave Breaks into a Spray
Dmitri Hvorostovsky, baritone
Mikhail Arkadiev, piano

Scheherazade (I. The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship) 
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra
Mariss Jansons, conductor

From Homer Op.60
Svetlana Sizova, mezzo-soprano
Tatiana Fedotova, soprano
Chorus of the Moscow Academy of Choral Art & Moscow Symphony Orchestra
Vladimir Ziva, conductor

Symphony No 1 (II. Andante tranquillo)
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
Neeme Järvi, conductor

Sadko, Op. 6
L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Ernest Ansermet, conductor

Trombone Concerto (I. Allegro Vivace)
Christian Lindberg, trombone
Kosei Wind Orchestra
Chikara Imamura, conductor

Produced by Sam Phillips for BBC Wales

Composer of the Week: Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod surveys the life of Russian composer Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov.

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The Sea

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