# Help me find more music like this•••



## Cyclops (Mar 24, 2008)

Currently listening to Pictures at an Exhibition,one of my favourite works and the parts I like best are the dark,brooding yet powerful pieces like Bydlo,Hut on Fowl's Legs,and the fantastic Great Gate of Kiev etc. Also on the same disk is the fabulous Night on a Bare Mountain which I adore. What other music is there like this? I have 3 Shostakovich symphonies.my favourite being 11. I just love this powerful stirring music that seems to come from the russian composers!


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Dark and brooding seem to be Russian specialties. Russian music, I think, is among the best.

I don't mean to toot the Akira Ifukube horn too much, but if you like Pictures (piano version), I would check out the composer's Piano Suite of 1933. It was written when he was 19. It's a muscular score with tinges of Japanese folk music, but with a distinctive Slavic flair. (And why not...Ifukube loved Russian composers, Mussorgsky in particular.) If you like the power of the Bydlo or the Hut on Fowls Legs, try this work.

I cannot suggest a better recording than one I, incidentally, helped work on. The pianist is Reiko Yamada, a former student of the composer. You can find out how to order Reiko's recording here:

http://akiraifukube.org/cd_information.htm

It was just released in December of last year and has gotten rave reviews in Japan.

Try a good recording of Alexander Nevsky (by Prokofiev) too. My highest recommendation goes to Abbado/LSO on DG.


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## Ciel_Rouge (May 16, 2008)

I also happen to like the pieces you mentioned - but I would add Old Castle to that list.

Perhaps you would also like Rimsky Korsakov.

Here is his Antar:






and

Sadko:


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## bdelykleon (May 21, 2009)

Prokofieff's piano music is also a good choice, not to mention, obviously, Mussorgsky himself: the songs and dances of death and Boris Godunov are even more powerful.


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## Cyclops (Mar 24, 2008)

Oh the Pictures i have is the orchestral version,arranged by Ravel. Its the only arrangement of it I know,for now.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Cyclops said:


> Oh the Pictures i have is the orchestral version,arranged by Ravel. Its the only arrangement of it I know,for now.


Ah, well, you should hear the original piano version, too. Mussorgsky certainly gives an "orchestral" sound to the keys. It's a wonderfully earthy work.

Also give Aram Khachaturian a shot. His 2nd and third symphonies are grand orchestral works in a very Russian tradition, seen through the eyes of an Armenian.


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## JoeGreen (Nov 17, 2008)

Im not sure which version of Night on Bald Mountain you heard, but chaces are it was the one reorchestrated and arranged by Mussorsgky's friend and colleague Rimsky- Korsakov, so If you like the brooding melancholic quality of russian music I suggest checking the original version with orchestration by Mussorsgky himself?


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

JoeGreen said:


> Im not sure which version of Night on Bald Mountain you heard, but chaces are it was the one reorchestrated and arranged by Mussorsgky's friend and colleague Rimsky- Korsakov, so If you like the brooding melancholic quality of russian music I suggest checking the original version with orchestration by Mussorsgky himself?


I second this suggestion. I like Mussorgsky's original version just a tad better. The orchestration is more brittle and less "opulent" that Korsakov's. Plus, there are more passages of Russian folk melodies just to make it all a little stranger.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

I would check out some Borodin, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Janacek, Bartok, and this list could last a while.


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## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

I have similar tastes to the OP I think. Try these for starters, they should get your pulse racing:

Bartok - The Miraculous Mandarin
Borodin - Polovtsian Dances
Holst - The Perfect Fool
Orff - Carmina Burana
Prokofiev - Scythian Suite
Rimsky Korsakov - Scheherezade, Capriccio Espagnol
Stravinsky - Rite of Spring, The Firebird


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## Cyclops (Mar 24, 2008)

Tapkaara said:


> Ah, well, you should hear the original piano version, too. Mussorgsky certainly gives an "orchestral" sound to the keys. It's a wonderfully earthy work.
> 
> Also give Aram Khachaturian a shot. His 2nd and third symphonies are grand orchestral works in a very Russian tradition, seen through the eyes of an Armenian.


Yes thank you. I do want to hear some Katchaturian. I have none at all in my collection but I'm sure if I were to hear certain pieces I would recognise them. I believe his Sabre Dance piece is quite famous. I wish i knew people who listened to classical but all my peers are into rock pop or dance.


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## Cyclops (Mar 24, 2008)

jezbo said:


> I have similar tastes to the OP I think. Try these for starters, they should get your pulse racing:
> 
> Bartok - The Miraculous Mandarin
> Borodin - Polovtsian Dances
> ...


Ah yes indeed I have some of those already! The only Prokofiev I have is his music from Romeo and Juliet,need to sample his symphonies! I'm not sure about Bartok. What i have heard by him has been somewhat atonal,or discordant,but its been a long time and one's tastes do change over the years.
Holst,I have the Planets of course,but nothing else. 
Carmina Burana I know but only like the one piece from it. I'm not a fan of grand vocal music.


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