Glinka, Rimski-Korsakow & Borodin: Orchestral Works

Featuring

Emmanuel Tjeknavorian
Kirill Maximov
Tonkünstler-Orchester
Mikhail Glinka
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Alexander Borodin

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Composer's Artistic Vision

The "Mighty Handful" composers, including Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin, aimed to renew Russian music from a deliberately amateur stance rooted in authentic national identity, rejecting Western European academic rules.

Recording & Production

The conductor, Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, dedicates this album to "all who believe that dreams come true," inspired by his childhood dream of conducting his father's recording of "Scheherazade."

Historical Context

In the 1850s, Russian musical life saw the formation of two aesthetic factions: one led by the Rubinstein brothers, who founded conservatories based on Western models, and another by a group of dissident composers known as the "Mighty Handful."

Composer Biography

Alexander Borodin, whose "Polovtsian Dances" are featured on this album, was primarily a "part-time" composer, also holding a professorship in organic chemistry and making significant scientific discoveries.

Performer Biography

Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, the conductor on this album, began taking conducting lessons with his father, composer and conductor Loris Tjeknavorian, in 2014.

Performer Biography

Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, the conductor, was the youngest "Artist in Residence" in the history of the Vienna Musikverein.

Composition History

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" was inspired by the orientalisms in Alexander Borodin's unfinished opera "Prince Igor," prompting him to write a piece based on "One Thousand and One Nights."