“THE MIGHTY HANDFUL”
- or THE RUSSIAN FIVE
for Piano and Voices
'The Russian Five' were a group of similar-thinking composers gathered around Mily Balakirev. Their moniker, 'A Mighty Handful,' was coined by an influential Russian cultural critic, promoting a purer 'Russian-ness' in their music beyond the growing hold of European influences.
TATYANA RASHKOVSKY, mezzo-soprano
KATARZYNA SALWINSKI, piano
ROLLIN WILBER, piano
They worked to fill their music with imitative sounds of Russian life. They drew on folk-lore, fairy-tales and myth from Russian culture, all in pursuit of what Mikhail Glinka called 'the soul of Russian music.'
MUSIC BY:
Mily Balakirev
Cesar Cui
Modest Mussorgsky
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Alexander Borodin