César Cui [1835-1918] - Cui's Cuisine

Started by Scion7, August 30, 2016, 10:21:11 AM

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Scion7

There was a renewed interest in the Russian composer of "The Five" during the late 20th century.
(The Mighty Handful - also known as The Five, The Balakirev Circle, and The New Russian School, refers to a group of prominent 19th century composers active in Saint Petersburg, Russia who strived to produce a specifically Russian kind of classical music, rather than one that imitated older European music or relied on European-style conservatory training. The group met from 1856 to 1870 and consisted of Mily Balakirev (the leader), César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin.)
Born in Vilnius in 1835, from a French officer father (who decided to stay in Russia during Napoleon's disastrous retreat from Moscow) and a Lithuanian mother.  Dad taught French in Vilnius to make some rubles to feed his family.
After some piano lessons as a child, he entered the Engineering School at St Petersburg in 1851, and later studied at the Academy of Military Engineering (1855–7); eventually became a professor there after graduating. He was an acknowledged expert on fortifications, and his writings on the subject were widely acclaimed.
See biography at allmusic  --->     http://www.allmusic.com/artist/c%C3%A9sar-cui-mn0001205582/biography


Chamber music
===========================

Op.           Work

—   Andante and Allegro, for string quartet, c1858,
84   Sonata, D, violin, piano, c1860–70, pubd 1911
14   Petite suite, violin, piano, 1879; no.3 (Scherzino) also for solo piano
20   Douze miniatures, (violin, piano), solo piano, 1882; nos.5 and 8 also for violin, orch
24   Deux morceaux, violin, piano/orch, 1884
25   Suite concertante, violin, piano/orch, 1884
36   Deux morceaux, cello, piano/orch, 1886
39   Sept miniatures, (violin, piano), solo piano, 1886
45   String Quartet no.1, c, 1890
50   Kaleidoscope, 24 morceaux, violin, piano, 1893 [no.17 orig. Petit prélude no.1, piano, 1888]
—   Tarantelle, c, violin, piano, 1893
51   Six Bagatelles, violin, piano, ?1893–5
—   Quasi mazurka, violin, piano, 1894,
56   Cinq petits duos, fl, violin, piano, 1897
68   String Quartet no.2, D, 1907
81   Barcarolle, cello, piano, 1910
91   String Quartet no.3, E, 1913
—   Scherzetto, D, flute, piano, ?1916


orchestral
============================================

Op.             Work

—   Overture, c1856, unpubd
1   Scherzo, F, 1857 [orch of pf work]
2   Scherzo, g, 1857 [orch of pf work]
12   Tarantella, g, 1858
—   Symphonic allegro, E, 1862; unfinished, some material used in William Ratcliff, unpubd
18   Marche solonnelle, E, 1881
20   Suite miniature no.1, 1882 [orch of 12 Miniatures, pf, nos.10, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12]
24   Deux morceaux, vn, orch/pf, 1884
25   Suite concertante, vn, orch/pf, 1884
36   Deux morceaux, vc, orch/pf, 1886
—   Orchestral March, c1886, not orchd, unpubd
38   Suite no.2, E, 1887
40   Suite no.4, 1887 [orch by Glazunov of A Argenteau, pf, nos.1, 5, 4, 8 and 9]
—   Fanfari [Fanfares], wind, perc, 1889, ?unpubd [with Glazunov, in honour of M.P. Belyayev]
43   In modo populari [Suite no.3], g, small orch, 1890
65   Valse, 1904
82   Three Scherzos, C, F, c, 1910
—   Slava, march, military band, 1916


Piano music
======================================

Op.                Work

•   Three Pieces, Op. 8 (1877)
•   Twelve Miniatures, Op. 20 (1882); also arranged for violin and piano,
•   Suite, Op. 21 (1883); (dedicated to Liszt)
•   Four Pieces, Op. 22 (1883)
•   Valse-Caprice, Op. 26 (1883)
•   Deux Bluettes, Op. 29 (1886)
•   Two Polonaises, Op. 30 (1886)
•   Three Waltzes, Op. 31 (1886)
•   Three Impromptus, Op. 35 (1886)
•   Six/Seven Miniatures, Op. 39 (1886)
•   Petite prélude no. 2 (1889)
•   Five Pieces, Op. 52 (1895)
•   Impromptu-caprice (1896?).
•   Four Pieces, Op. 60 (1901)
•   Theme and Variations, Op. 61 (1901)
•   Twenty-Five Preludes, Op. 64 (1904)
•   Two Mazurkas, Op. 70 (1907)
•   Three Mazurkas, Op. 79 (1909)
•   Five Pieces, Op. 83 (1911); includes:
•   5. Rêverie d'un faune, après la lecture de son journal
•   Trois esquisses mélodiques, Op. 92 (1913)
•   Trois mouvements de danse, Op. 94 (1914)
•   Five Pieces, Op. 95 (1914)
•   Eighteen Variations, Op. 100 (1916)
Many more pieces for solo and four-hands

When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

Scion7

#1
Several items have been released by Marco Polo / Naxos.

[asin]B0000045S3[/asin]


[asin]B014I78ILI[/asin]
When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

Scion7

When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

Scion7

#3


[asin]B0000028N1[/asin]

. . . contains Op.50

[asin]B0000260IU[/asin]
When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

Scion7

When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

Scion7

The string quartets need to be professionally recorded.
There is a performance uploaded to YT that is adequate, but we need a CD release of all three.
Beware of the computer generated "bedroom quartet" crappy one on YT.
When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

Spineur

#6
Cross-post from WAYLN
What came  out of the Napoleon Russian campaign music-wise ? I will advocate César Cui here.  His father Antoine was part of La grande armée, and after the defeat, he did not return to France, but settled in Vilnius, which at the time was part of Russia.  César got a Franco-Polish-Lituanian-Russian education in Vilnius and learned the piano studying Chopin works.  His military carrier did not prevent him to be a prolific composer part of the group of 5 (le groupe  des cinq).  History has not been good to him as very few of his works have been recorded, and even fewer regularly performed.  I just listened to the 2 CD I have, which I will add to his thread.  I particularly enjoy his melodies.  Although they are on french texts, the music is russian to the core.  The one act opera, A Feast in Time of Plague, based on a Pushkin story, is interesting but ultimately not as exciting as Rimsky-Korsakov numerous operas.  To my knowledge, it is the only opera (he composed a dozen) of his which has been recorded.



[asin]B00022M478[/asin]


Sammy

I have that Chandos disc and find it a very good acquisition.  About the best that can be expected from Cui.

kyjo

I started making my way through Cui's 25 Preludes for piano a while ago (but never got around to finishing, for some reason). The ones I heard impressed me greatly - they have a surprising amount of substance and memorability.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

Franco_Manitobain

Quote from: kyjo on April 01, 2018, 08:05:57 PMI started making my way through Cui's 25 Preludes for piano a while ago (but never got around to finishing, for some reason). The ones I heard impressed me greatly - they have a surprising amount of substance and memorability.

Bump. Just finished sampling the 25 préludes for piano and was quite impressed with what I heard.

Very few recordings of discs of exclusively Cui instrumental music.