What happens when a Russian composer gets ahold of the classic Golden Age Islamic tales?On this program, we devote the entire show to Scheherezade, the great symphonic poem by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov inspired by One Thousand and One Nights. We also explore what exactly a symphonic poem is-- is it a tone poem? Is it a symphony? How closely or loosely does this colorful Russiam composer adhere to the classic story of the sultan and his many wives? The cultural history is all here-- right alongside the music.
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Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherezade; Carlos Miguel Prieto, conducting