This collection of music linked by its "thème russe" or Russian theme seems extremely slight, but as you listen you realize that slight things may contain interesting essences. The thème russe idea may represent an actual melodic theme, as in the collaboratively composed and quite rare Variations on a Russian folk song for string quartet (the song apparently was made up by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov); it may represent the idea of Russianness in music; or it may represent the peculiar Russian attitude toward the string quartet, ...
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This collection of music linked by its "thème russe" or Russian theme seems extremely slight, but as you listen you realize that slight things may contain interesting essences. The thème russe idea may represent an actual melodic theme, as in the collaboratively composed and quite rare Variations on a Russian folk song for string quartet (the song apparently was made up by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov); it may represent the idea of Russianness in music; or it may represent the peculiar Russian attitude toward the string quartet, which was kept at arm's length as a quintessentially Western form yet exerted a certain fascination. With the exception of Tchaikovsky's early String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 11, one of his most Western-oriented works, these are mostly short pieces. The highlights are the pieces from Tchaikovsky's Album for the Young, presented in old string quartet transcriptions by Rostislav Dubinsky of the original Borodin Quartet that make them sound like little excerpts from the Nutcracker...
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Add this copy of Theme Russe-Kuss Quartet to cart. $31.20, new condition, Sold by Revaluation Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Exeter, DEVON, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2012 by ONYX CLASSICS-INGH.