Rimsky-Korsakov: Scenes from The Invisible City of Kitezh / Sheherazade

though he was counted amongst Mily Balakirev's 'Mighty Handful' (which dedicated itself to pursuing a more purely Russian art music, as opposed to the Austro-German musical dominance of the era), both works on this recording show how Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was able to draw influences from beyond Russia into his own unique compositional approach: the scenes from his opera 'The Invisible City of Kitezh' take on a dramatic, Wagnerian influence, whilst 'Sheherazade' is suffused with orientalism as it conjures images from the Thousand and One Nights.