Artist	Song
Orchestra of the Kirov Opera, St. Petersburg & Valery Gergiev	The Nutcracker, Op.71: No. 12d Character Dances: Trépak (Russian Dance)
from Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (1998)
Israel Philharmonic & Zubin Mehta	18th Variation from Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43
from The Rachmaninoff Collection (2006)
Ivo Pogorelich	Pictures at an Exhibition: 16. The Great Gate of Kiev. Allegro Alla Breve, Maestoso, Con Grandezza
from Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition & Ravel: Valses Nobles et Sentimentales (1997)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra & Vladimir Ashkenazy	Festive Overture, Op. 96
from Shostakovich: Symphonies 5 & 7 (2006)
London Philharmonic Orchestra	Scheherazade: Symphonic Suite After The Thousand and One Nights, Op. 35: The Sea and Sinbad's Ship
from Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade (1999)
London Symphony Orchestra & Yuri Ahronovitch	Russlan & Ludmilla: Overture
from Russian Spectacular (2005)
Leonard Bernstein & Israel Philharmonic Orchestra	Pulcinella (Concert Suite): I. Sinfonia (Ouverture)
from Bernstein Collector's Edition - Stravinsky and Shostakovich: Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon (2005)
Lang Lang	Islamey (Oriental Fantasy)
from Lang Lang: Live at Seiji Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood (2001)
London Symphony Orchestra & Sir Neville Marriner	The Love for Three Oranges, Symphonic Suite, Op. 33 Bis: III. March
from Prokofiev: Favourite Orchestral Suites (1994)
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra & Erich Kunzel	The Red Poppy, Op. 70: Russian Sailors' Dance
from Ballet Favorites (2004)
Shura Cherkassky	Melody in F, Op. 3, No. 1
from Romantic Piano Adagios (2002)
Gennady Rozhdestvensky & State Symphony Orchestra of the USSR	Symphony No. 5 In D Major, Op. 18: IV Allegro Risolute e Con Brio
from Myaskovsky: Symphonies Nos. 1, 5 (2006)
Ruth Laredo	Sonata No. 9, Op. 68 - "Black Mass": Moderato quasi andante; legendaire
from Alexander Scriabin: The Complete Piano Sonatas (2005)
Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Nikolai Korniev & St. Petersburg Kammerchor	Kalinka - Arr. Kozlov
from Dmitri Hvorostovsky - Portrait (2006)
Joshua Bell, Michael Stern & Orchestra of St. Luke's	Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14
from Voice of the Violin (Bonus Version) (2006)
Andrey Chistyakov, Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra & Nina Terentyeva	The Stone Guest: Laura's Song
from Mezzo-Soprano Arias from Russian Operas (2006)
Oleg Malov	Piano Sonata No. 2
from Galina Ustvolskaya: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1-6 (2008)
Chamber Choir Kiev	Of Thy Mystical Supper (A. Lvov)
from Anthology Of Sacred Music (2002)
Rino Vernizzi	Concerto for Bassoon & Low Strings: III (Gubaidulina)
from Bassoon XX (2006)
Atlantic Brass Quintet	Brass Quintet No. 3: Vivo
from A Musical Voyage (1995)
Valentin Feigin	Cello Concerto: Allegro
from Boris Tchaikovsky: Cello Concerto, Suite for Solo Cello, Piano Trio (2005)
USSR State Symphony Orchestra & Yevgeny Svetlanov	Egyptian Nights Ballet Suite, Op. 50a: I. Overture
from Arensky: Egyptian Nights Ballet Suite, Op. 50a (2005)
Heinrich Schiff, Maxim Shostakovich & Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks	Cello Concerto No. 1, Op. 107: I. Allegretto
from Shostakovich: The Complete Concertos (2003)

Comment:

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's most beloved composition of all, "The Nutcracker, Op.71: No. 12d Character Dances: Trépak (Russian Dance)" is a perfect, and familiar, place to begin our Russian musical expedition, in all its dancing bearded-Cossack glory. Itzhak Perlman's light-speed reading of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumble-Bee" (also known as the Green Hornet theme) will suck the air right out of your lungs with its astonishing display of finger-work. In contrast, the placid, pastoral, emotive nature of Borodin's "String Quartet No. 2 in D Major, III. Notturno: Andante" is not really what you might expect from a highly successful research chemist…which he was. In Next Steps, we move to Russia's love affair with the keyboard.

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