Mily Balakirev - Suite sur 4 morceaux de Chopin (1909) [Score]

Mily Balakirev (1837-1910), Suite sur 4 morceaux de Chopin (1909).

Performed by the USSR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yevgeny Svetlanov.

This work consist in the orchestration of four pieces by Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849); the four pieces corresponds to the four movements of the suite as following:

1. Préambule (Etude) (D minor) 0:20
2. Mazurka (B♭ major) 5:30
3. Intermezzo (Nocturne) (G minor) 9:20
4. Finale (Scherzo) (D minor) 16:05

Balakirev transposed some of the pieces and added some orchestral sections to them . In fact, only the Nocturne in G minor kept the same tonality, while the Étude op10.6 shifted to D minor, the Mazurka to Bb major and the Scherzo n.3 op.39 from C-sharp minor to D minor. In this way the pieces could form a suite with no contrasting tonalities as if it was a one piece in four movements and not the mesh up of four different things.

Little addictions Balakirev made for all the pieces, except the Mazurka. If in the Scherzo (Finale) Balakirev was faithful to the original source, in the Mazurka the orchestral addictions are relevant, yet they do not change the quality of the piece and they seem to flourish directly from Chopin’s pen having, nonetheless, some of Balakirev’s usual sounds. This video features the 4 hands score made by Lyapunow for the parts added by Balakirev and Chopin’s original score for the remaining parts.

The relation and influences of Chopin’s music on Balakirev are quite relevant in many aspects; this is not the first time Balakirev worked with Chopin’s music (just to remember the fantasy for piano on two Chopin preludes, not to mention every remind in the single pieces). But this is a special tribute to the memory of the Polish composer and, above all, a tribute to music.

This suite was one of the last works by him. He would have died just some months after finishing it.

Original audio:    • Mily Balakirev (after Chopin) : Orchestral...  
Score: https://imslp.org/wiki/Suite_sur_4_mo...)
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I DO NOT own the AUDIO neither the SCORE. I don't earn anything by doing this video and it has been done only for didactical purposes. Copyrights go to all the artists.