César Cui: Overture to The Mandarin's Son

[@jksteven1]

Until KZbin, very little of this composer's music was available to the general music-listening public, despite the fact that Cui was a member of the famous Russian group known as "The Five" alongside Borodin, Rimsky Korsakov, Balakirev and Mussorgsky, all well known. This upload is a new piece for me...how very Russian! A true charmer! Thanks for this upload!

[@matthofer2431]

First time hearing Cui!

[@hansvanbussel2999]

Thank you James Levee. Absorbed as I am in reading Rosa Newmarch's 'The Russian Opera' of 1914, listening to this wonderful music by César Cui is the perfect illustration to the book.

[@davisbrant6621]

Thank you, Mr. Levee, for enabling this recording to be heard by a newbie to Maestro Cui.

[@user-ru8vy1uz7c]

Bravo bravo bravo

[@user-qs6hm6ww9i]

❤💝💖

[@firefall5748]

Many thanks for this, I've read a couple of Col Cui's booklets on fortifications, hadn't realised it was the same person as the composer (who I thought was, like, a generation younger .. duh)

[@5610winston]

All of the composers in his Handful had day jobs. Borodin was a chemist, Rimsky-Korsakov was a naval officer, Mussorgsky was an Army NCO, and Balakirev had his hands full herding all these cats.

[@jamesmarra7043]

@@5610winston Years ago I read a history of chemistry, and was delighted to find an entire section on Borodin. I majored in both musical composition and chemistry in college, so Borodin was one of my favorites. Then, Cui, the famous theorist and builder of battlements, writes that lovely Prelude in Ab. Go figure. I am a big fan of Russian concert music in general. So glad to see such respect for these composers. They did more than write pretty music used in Hollywood movies.

[@lyleneff]

The orchestration of this overture is the work of Mily Balakirev.

[@demarezmichel]

César Cui - Orientale Opus 50 - Flute a bec - recorder - Jean Cassignol

[@DaNkOcCcC]

Als im Radio noch nicht ausschließlich amerikanisierter Sprühstuhl rauf und runter lief

[@lyleneff]

Unless I'm mistaken, the orchestration of this overture is by Mily Balakirev. There is a staged performance of this operetta (with piano accompaniment) on KZbin at this URL: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rmOrdnSbqNuDjrM Wikipedia article about the opera: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mandarin%27s_Son Piano-vocal score: imslp.org/wiki/The_Mandarin%27s_Son_(Cui,_C%C3%A9sar)

[@sophoclex]

A delightful and tuneful overture - many thanks for posting this, James. When is a Cui opera going to appear on DVD?

[@romankrassovsky226]

Cui's opera "Feast in Time of the Plague" conducted by Polyansky was released by Chandos several years ago.

[@sophoclex]

Roman Krassovsky Thanks Roman - I'll try to get hold of a copy.

[@octaviomora9810]

a true masterpiece

[@vanhouten64]

How to pronounce his name - is it "kwee"?

[@malcolmabram2957]

I had a friend who was fond of his music, and he pronounced his name as say-zar kwee, as you suggest.

[@marcelolasta3228]

suuuuuuuper gobernator,la pax,liberatooooooooooooor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@walterrobertogomezmonteiro4012]

Do You have the Ópera Ratcliff of Cesar Cui?

[@JoseAntonio-oy9ll]

Glinka Miguel Ivanovich

[@JAMESLEVEE]

OK. What about him?

[@robertberger4203]

This sounds more like the music from a19th century French composer than a Russian . But Cui was the son of a French father and a Lithuanian mother who lived in Russia .

[@JAMESLEVEE]

The Russians were also incredible Francophiles, at least the ones in the upper crust. Even Balakirev and his circle weren't immune.

[@ammm-wq2mz]

Lithuania was part of Russia in the 19th century.