The Mighty Handful: An Introduction [The Mighty Handful, Pt. 1/6]

[@ClassicalNerd]

*A few notes:* 1) Longtime viewers might note that I had a video of the same title _waaaay_ back in the day. It wasn't in-depth, some of the pronunciations were odd, and overall-like many of my early videos-it simply wasn't up to the production quality I hold myself to today. So, this is the first of a number of remakes of early videos that I'll be making in the coming year! Stay tuned. 2) This is the first video in a six-video series on the Mighty Handful, with the next five dedicated to each composer within the group. 3) Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, I rushed my filming and production schedule, and as a result, not all of my current patrons are included in the end screen. I'd like to extend my heartfelt thanks to new patrons *Hunter Wentz* and *Alexandre Martins* for their support. 4) The Rubinsteins' last name is slightly misspelled from the usual transliteration. 5) Liszt died in 1886-thanks to The Greatest Virtuoso Valexander for pointing out this subtitle copy-paste error at 9:41

[@jcrouse7461]

PART 1 OF 6!?!? You are my hero 😄

[@PositunesMusic]

I feel like the amount of info I got from this short video is worth more than a few days of lectures at a college. Bravo! Keep up the good work

[@TheListerbo]

Wonderful!

[@FebruaryJulia]

a round of applause to an American who finally explained the Mighty Handful to me, a Russian who keeps hearing about them ever since childhood 😂😂 great job! 👏👏👏👏👏

[@retiredmusiceducator3612]

Hey - just saying 'hello' from the past. I am the former HMB music teacher - now retired and living in Arkansas. Just saw your newest and I just had to write and give you Kudos! Great job. Sad to say but the music teacher that followed me was a dud (poor guy - moved to ND from Texas - from marching to shoveling and shivering - major culture shock, i am sure didn't help). I only hope you and I planted a seed for classical with my former students IF they can ever get over their Global Home Music scam towards Globalism. Anyway - nice to see you are still active - keep it up - there are many who love your work and appreciate your efforts!

[@heavynov]

Fantastic first part, really looking forward to the other five ^_^ Also, as a Bulgarian I was a bit surprised and somewhat delighted by your displayed knowledge of vulgarity :-D

[@ClassicalNerd]

I don't speak Bulgarian, but I came across that when checking the pronunciation of "кучка" and simply _had_ to include it!

[@heavynov]

@@ClassicalNerd You don't speak it YET. It always starts with cursing, then goes on to innuendo and finally fluency :-P

[@jeansimon326]

LOVE YOUR WONDERFULLY INFORMATIVE, ENERGETIC AND DOWN-TO- EARTH SYLE PLUS HUMOUR. VERY GRATEFUL!

[@doricdream498]

genuinely gasped when i saw the notification for this :)

[@DavidA-ps1qr]

Another absolutely fantastic video, full of facts and wonderfully delivered. I am totally overwhelmed by what you produce and can't wait for the rest of this series. In my opinion, for what it's worth, I rate The Mighty Handful in order of importance: Rimsky-Korsakov - Borodin - Balakirev - Mussorgsky - Cui.

[@ClassicalNerd]

Thank you! I rated Mussorgsky a little bit higher just because of how impactful he was on other composers and styles despite having such a small catalogue (particularly in how _Boris Godunov_ impacted opera and in the innovative structure and orchestration potential of _Pictures at an Exhibition,_ among others). I hope I make a substantive case for that when my Mussorgsky video comes out in the coming weeks!

[@DavidA-ps1qr]

@@ClassicalNerd Thank you so much for your reply. I thought you might switch Mussorgsky for Balakirev :-) :-) But I'm not sure Mussorgsky appreciated the orchestrational value of PAAE otherwise, why didn't he do it before Ravel and many,many others saw the potential? My choice was based on Balakirev's overall Piano music output that, in my opinion far outclassed Mussorgsky's. His orchestration wasn't bad either. Interesting to see what he did to Chopin's 1st Piano Concerto. Vast improvement from.........what can I say.....pretty awful!! Stay well and keep safe. David A

[@DavidA-ps1qr]

@@ClassicalNerd Oh, and by the way, when this pandemic is finally over and you're next in London, I invite you to join me for lunch at the world famous Savoy Hotel (I used to work there some years ago). There is much to discuss over the finest wine & cuisine. David A

[@ClassicalNerd]

Mussorgsky was a very ... shall we say, _interesting_ orchestrator. He might have wanted to orchestrate it, but was not prolific enough to get it done. Plus, it gave us an opportunity for Ravel to flex his might there, which I'm not going to complain about. Balakirev, for me, would rank second in importance to Rimsky-Korsakov; my ranking in the video was about his followers and didn't consider Balakirev himself in the ranking. Overall, yes, Balakirev himself was a more "pianistic" piano composer and his orchestration is very underrated-after all, Rimsky-Korsakov had to learn it from _somebody!_

[@ClassicalNerd]

Your invitation is greatly appreciated! I have plenty of places across Europe that I'd like to go, and I'll let you know when I'm in London!

[@nickroberts1596]

I've been marathoning your videos during quarantine and they're really helping me through it. Thank you so much for your dedication to music history and theory. Have you happened to do William Byrd or Orlando Gibbons yet?

[@ClassicalNerd]

Thank you! Happy to provide some educational entertainment during these weird times. You're the fourth to request Byrd and the first to request Gibbons: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@SusanRodning]

Please do a video on Josephine Lang. thank you! 4:54

[@rodneyloosley77]

Can you do a video on Glazunov?

[@danielmads9160]

I have not been a subscriber of yours for long, however, I enjoy all of your content. Your channel is a great educational source! I learn new things about composers that I thought I already knew a lot about. There is one composer that would be amazing if you talked about, and that is Leonard Bernstein. He is my go-to composer. Love his rhythmic music and uncommon times. Again, would be awesome if you made a video on Bernstein!

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@anthonypassante-contaldi]

Hey Classical Nerd. I'm a huge fan of your channel. I was wondering if you could do a video on the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavara. His 1st Piano Concerto is a work that represents his voice really well. Thanks and keep up the great work!!!

[@ClassicalNerd]

I made a video on Rautavaara at the beginning of 2017 (two sets ago, over three _years_ ago, and when my production quality was ... not very good): kzbin.info/www/bejne/hJjZgol6a55ooc0 Rautavaara is a video I plan on remaking, but it's not as big a priority as remaking videos that I did in 2016, which were even _less_ in-depth.

[@gpcrawford8353]

Rimsky-Korsakov summed it up ,Balakirev told Rimsky to put some spice and pepper into a composition with out telling him how to do . Rimsky-Korsakov corrected this when in his own words he became St Petersburg’s conservatory best pupil.

[@TiHawk]

I recently found your channel, and I'm enjoying it in huge chunks at a time right now :) Thank you for the great work! Waiting for the next parts :) BTW since you mentioned Bulgarian, maybe you can make a video about Pancho Vladigerov?

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@nyc88s]

Excellent video!

[@necroyoli08]

He was a virtuoso composer, pianist, music theorist, and director of the Moscow conservatory, whose standards of perfection often reduced his old teacher and friend Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to agonizingly rewrite whole movements for his music to meet them. You're the Classical Nerd, and you need to make a video on Sergei Taneyev!

[@ClassicalNerd]

I do! Unfortunately, since you're (somehow!) the first to ever request Taneyev, he's currently in 359th place out of 359th active requests: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@necroyoli08]

@@ClassicalNerd I know, right? It really baffles me how little known Taneyev is outside of Russia, both as a composer and theorist (his Convertible Counterpoint in the Strict Style is, in my opinion, the greatest work on the subject) but anyway, should we make Ben Johnston No. 360? I'm guessing no one has mentioned him either. Great work on this channel!

[@ClassicalNerd]

Ben Johnston has been added!

[@guyberreby4954]

I would love to see a video on new complexity!

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@LeeGeorge08]

I'd like to make a quick comment on your question of where the Mighty Five and western conservatory meet: you could do an episode on Alexander Glazunov, who's music sounds like a cross between this group and Tchaikovsky. Glazunov was also a bridge for modern Russian composers as he taught Stravinsky and Prokofiev (plus maybe ruining Rachmaninoff's career for a bit).

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@ofdrumsandchords]

Would anyone know who for the first time used the dominant seventh chord in the major mode and who is the clever little one who had the idea of ​​putting a sensitive in the minor mode in order to recreate this cadenza ? We know that tonal music comes to us from the Renaissance, but among my esteemed colleagues, no one could answer me. And in which pieces ? I just fell on the chords Dm F Gm A in a popular Cuban song (Chan chan) that I want to arrange for children from 9 to 13 years old, and this C# has the merit of clearly defining the tone of D minor (unlike the chords used in rock where we sometimes remain perplexed by the tonal ambiguity) and I wanted to know who had the idea first. I'm going to look into Monteverdi or Gesualdo. A clue ? Thank you very much.

[@emilynightingale7758]

ooooooh, this is going to be good...

[@ralentarda627]

Can you also make a video on Jose Maceda, Lucrecia Kasilag and Vitezslav Novak?

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@classicalmusic3334]

This is going to be good! There's one thing I'm curious about, and that is to what extent Berlioz influenced the development of Russian music. I once read an article by a Dutch newspaper that Berlioz and Glinka basically paved the way for the Russian style of music that would be established in the following decades. Would you call this an accurate observation?

[@ClassicalNerd]

According to my research, Berlioz's influence seems to have been filtered through nationalistic composers like the Handful. Berlioz was a very forward-thinking composer and broke from the Western rules, which they greatly appreciated. (This is also what they appreciated about Schumann.) Balakirev invited Berlioz to conduct some concerts and they were all big fans of his works. Additionally, there's what I like to call the "cultural bromance" between France and Russia where each country was obsessed with the culture of the other, which certainly helped Berlioz's works have more influence than a non-French composer would have had.

[@jackking2225]

@@ClassicalNerd Thank you - learning Russian - someday will read Rimsky-Korsakov's rich anecdote filled journal ( in Russian ). I always what it was about Berlioz with Russians.

[@MrVasko06]

Great video. Can you please do a video about the Bulgarian composer Pancho Vladigerov!

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@paeffill9428]

Could you make a similiar concept with the *Monday group* as well?

[@ClassicalNerd]

The Monday Group is currently in 361st place out of 361 requests at lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@vesteel]

@@ClassicalNerd I second this, please do the Monday Group! Interesting group of swedish composers

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted!

[@amagiordi2615]

Hey man, really love your videos, are you ever planning to do carl maria von weber?

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@themajor2072]

@@ClassicalNerd I'd like to second this request.

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted!

[@Mukundanghri]

I play a lot of Scriabin and he uses a lot of black keys. Was he simply just using what worked under his small hands?

[@ClassicalNerd]

That's as good a theory as any. He had small hands, but they were very powerful and agile (especially his left).

[@neo-eclesiastul9386]

Nice video, Thomas. Can you do a remake of Charles Ives?

[@ClassicalNerd]

I plan on it! He's my favorite composer, after all ...

[@Mukundanghri]

My wife is Russian, I must share this with her.

[@ricardoSbass]

Do a video about ernst bloch

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@ambroseonrakeos7120]

Do video about Colin Mcphee

[@ClassicalNerd]

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

[@seanramsdell4117]

Any fans of The Thief and the Cobbler which used Scheherazade frequently?

[@composerdavidgiannivaldez367]

Wait I though Liszt died in 1886 not 1869

[@ClassicalNerd]

He did! I screwed up when I copied and pasted the subtitle from Dargomyzhsky.

[@kenm.3512]

Hector Berlioz died in March of 1869.

[@mikeygmm]

Love Russian composers like Dimitri Shostakovich and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. So this is interesting. I can't help but wonder if Russia's lack of musical instrumental composers was partially due to their Religious tradition of Eastern Orthodoxy; in that all the worship is in chanting Psalms, the Liturgy, etc. Also, before the revolutions most of the population was near surfdom in trade

[@Pylypczak]

Where is Tchaikovsky?

[@ClassicalNerd]

... not part of this group?

[@adityaseth7406]

Borodine Hunsdiecker?

[@ClassicalNerd]

The very same! More information is available in my video on Borodin.

[@iknowimaysoundgaywhenisayt386]

Fran’s Liszt didn’t die in 1869

[@ClassicalNerd]

As has been noted elsewhere, including the pinned comment.

[@authenticbaguette6673]

i know i may sound gay when i say this but yeah that would be a very unfortunate year for someone to die in (wink wink)

[@noble_rosethorn]

Wasn't Cui the guy who destroyed Rachmaninoff's self-esteem by likening the Symphony no.1 to the ten plagues? And he basically did not write music? How ironic.

[@ClassicalNerd]

Yep! Poor Rachmaninoff didn't deserve it either; it was largely because Glazunov was probably drunk when he conducted the premiere. But Cui _did_ write music; he was actually one of the most prolific composers in the Handful, but his works simply aren't played. I'll be going into that in more detail when my video on Cui comes out in a couple of weeks.

[@themajor2072]

He's also the guy who fancied himself a musical progressive who espouses the virtue of daring and original writing, to the point that he would deny the genius of Mozart, and yet somehow Richard Strauss and Vincent D'Indy are too much for him. He's as much a joke to musical progressivism as Camille Saint-Saens in his later years, and like him he would have been better off dead in his own century. I suppose it's just the way things go with music critics who pretend to be composers.

[@ClassicalNerd]

Not to spoil my Cui video too much, but he and Tchaikovsky didn't get along either (big surprise), and Tchaikovsky basically said (if translated into the colloquial speech of today) that Cui constantly talked trash but couldn't back it up by writing music that lived up to what he said he liked.

[@themajor2072]

@@ClassicalNerd He's right on the money, and as for his posthumous reputation it really doesn't help his case that he is the embodiment of the caricature that composers will write off their critics as; a strongly opinionated hack who is remembered less for any substantial artistic legacy of their own and more for talking down to artists far greater than they would ever be.

[@ClassicalNerd]

I'm inclined to agree ... but, all the same, I had quite a bit of fun digging into what I could find on Cui for the upcoming video on him! Videos on more obscure figures are always more enjoyable to make for some reason.