Starter Packs

Complete your collection with these curated titles, grouped at a special discount.

Shop Now
Piano Works by the Mighty Handful / Fisher
Chandos

Piano Works by the Mighty Handful / Fisher

$21.99 Only 1 left

Details

Composer
CUI BORODIN BALAKIREV MUSSO
Artist
Philip Edward Fisher
Format
CD
Label
Chandos
Released
May 31, 2011
Catalog #
CHAN 10676
UPC
095115167625

About

"The Mighty Handful, or Mighty Five as they are sometimes called, are Mussorgsky, Balakirev, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov and César Cui. Together they embody the nationalist tradition in 19th-century Russian music. They are rarely programmed as a group, so Philip Edward Fisher's decision to fashion a recital from the works of all five has considerable appeal...Borodin's Petite Suite comes over as a work of exquisite grace and melodic charm that deserves to be much better known. It suits Fisher's refined style rather well, too..."

- The Guardian, London

On his first solo recital disc for Chandos, Philip Edward Fisher performs piano works by members of the so-called ‘Mighty Handful’, a group of five Russian composers – César Cui, Alexander Borodin, Mily Balakirev, Modest Mussorgsky, and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov – who in the 1860s banded together in an attempt to create a truly national school of Russian music, free of the perceived stifling influences of Italian opera, German lieder, and other western European forms.

The Mighty Handful were all self-trained amateurs. Borodin combined composing with a career in chemistry; Rimsky-Korsakov was a naval officer; and Mussorgsky had been in the Guards, then in the civil service, before taking up music. They tried to incorporate in their music what they heard in village songs, in Cossack dances, in church chants, and the tolling of church bells; in short, the music of the Mighty Handful was brimming with sounds that echoed Russian life. From the more traditional, Chopin-esque Nocturne by Cui through to the technical innovations and strong Caucasus folk elements of Balakirev’s Islamey, the works here all show the composers’ strong connections with the past and the compositional innovations that would come to influence the likes of Prokofiev and Stravinsky, and help change the course of Russian music for years to come.

A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and The Juilliard School, the pianist Philip Edward Fisher is widely recognised as a unique performer of refined style and exceptional versatility. He has performed across Europe, Africa, and North America where he made his New York debut at Alice Tully Hall in 2002, performing Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto, and has also appeared at the Merkin Concert Hall and the Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center.

At home he has given performances at the Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall, Barbican Centre, and Royal Festival Hall in London, Usher Hall in Edinburgh, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, and Symphony Hall in Birmingham. He has appeared as a soloist with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, and Juilliard Symphony Orchestra, and worked with performers such as exclusive Chandos artist bassoonist Karen Geoghegan, the tenor Robert White, pianist Sara Buechner, and violinists Elmar Oliveira, Philippe Graffin, and Augustin Hadelich. In 2001, Philip Edward Fisher received the Julius Isserlis Award from The Royal Philharmonic Society in London. - Chandos

Tracklist 29 tracks

  1. 1 Promenade 01:28
    Track
    1
    Title
    Promenade
    Duration
    01:28
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  2. 2 I. Gnomus 02:33
    Track
    2
    Title
    I. Gnomus
    Duration
    02:33
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  3. 3 Promenade 00:48
    Track
    3
    Title
    Promenade
    Duration
    00:48
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  4. 4 II. Old Castle 05:07
    Track
    4
    Title
    II. Old Castle
    Duration
    05:07
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  5. 5 Promenade 00:27
    Track
    5
    Title
    Promenade
    Duration
    00:27
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  6. 6 III. Tuileries 01:01
    Track
    6
    Title
    III. Tuileries
    Duration
    01:01
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  7. 7 IV. Bydlo 02:47
    Track
    7
    Title
    IV. Bydlo
    Duration
    02:47
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  8. 8 Promenade 00:39
    Track
    8
    Title
    Promenade
    Duration
    00:39
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  9. 9 V. Ballet of the Chickens in their Shells 01:09
    Track
    9
    Title
    V. Ballet of the Chickens in their Shells
    Duration
    01:09
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  10. 10 VI. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle 02:32
    Track
    10
    Title
    VI. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle
    Duration
    02:32
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  11. 11 Promenade 01:25
    Track
    11
    Title
    Promenade
    Duration
    01:25
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  12. 12 VII. The Market-Place at Limoges 01:28
    Track
    12
    Title
    VII. The Market-Place at Limoges
    Duration
    01:28
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  13. 13 VIII. Catacombae (Sepulcrum romanum) - 02:10
    Track
    13
    Title
    VIII. Catacombae (Sepulcrum romanum) -
    Duration
    02:10
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  14. 14 VIII. Con mortuis in lingua mortua 02:13
    Track
    14
    Title
    VIII. Con mortuis in lingua mortua
    Duration
    02:13
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  15. 15 IX. The Hut on Fowl's Legs (Baba-Yaga) 03:46
    Track
    15
    Title
    IX. The Hut on Fowl's Legs (Baba-Yaga)
    Duration
    03:46
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  16. 16 X. The Great Gate at Kiev 05:43
    Track
    16
    Title
    X. The Great Gate at Kiev
    Duration
    05:43
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  17. 17 4 Morceaux, Op. 22: No. 3. Nocturne 06:06
    Track
    17
    Title
    4 Morceaux, Op. 22: No. 3. Nocturne
    Duration
    06:06
    Composer
    César Cui
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  18. 18 Scherzo in A-Flat Major 03:18
    Track
    18
    Title
    Scherzo in A-Flat Major
    Duration
    03:18
    Composer
    Alexander Borodin
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  19. 19 I. In the Monastery 04:19
    Track
    19
    Title
    I. In the Monastery
    Duration
    04:19
    Composer
    Alexander Borodin
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  20. 20 II. Intermezzo 03:22
    Track
    20
    Title
    II. Intermezzo
    Duration
    03:22
    Composer
    Alexander Borodin
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  21. 21 III. Mazurka 03:03
    Track
    21
    Title
    III. Mazurka
    Duration
    03:03
    Composer
    Alexander Borodin
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  22. 22 IV. Mazurka 03:25
    Track
    22
    Title
    IV. Mazurka
    Duration
    03:25
    Composer
    Alexander Borodin
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  23. 23 V. Reverie 01:37
    Track
    23
    Title
    V. Reverie
    Duration
    01:37
    Composer
    Alexander Borodin
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  24. 24 VI. Serenade 02:10
    Track
    24
    Title
    VI. Serenade
    Duration
    02:10
    Composer
    Alexander Borodin
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  25. 25 VII. Nocturne 02:30
    Track
    25
    Title
    VII. Nocturne
    Duration
    02:30
    Composer
    Alexander Borodin
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  26. 26 4 Pieces, Op. 11: No. 3. Scherzino 01:08
    Track
    26
    Title
    4 Pieces, Op. 11: No. 3. Scherzino
    Duration
    01:08
    Composer
    Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  27. 27 No. 2. Romance 01:42
    Track
    27
    Title
    No. 2. Romance
    Duration
    01:42
    Composer
    Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  28. 28 No. 1. Waltz 03:25
    Track
    28
    Title
    No. 1. Waltz
    Duration
    03:25
    Composer
    Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher
  29. 29 Islamey 08:53
    Track
    29
    Title
    Islamey
    Duration
    08:53
    Composer
    Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev
    Performer
    Philip Edward Fisher