Mili Balakirev

Mili Balakirev was a Russian composer born in 1837. Known for his famous piano composition Islamey, he is also often cited as the founder of the Group of Five (composed by himself, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Mussorgsky, and Cui).

Balakirev was a self-taught composer. His parents were very modest and they did not have the financial means to offer him a complete musical education. However, he followed a few piano lessons from the great Alexander Dubuc.
Apparently gifted with great musical predispositions, he analyzes alone scores of great composers and forges his own musical bases. The decisive event that will decide Balakirev to dedicate himself to music is his encounter with Glinka in 1855.

By exploring different interpretations of the work Islamey available on YouTube, I stumbled upon the Toccata in C sharp minor that I did not know. The first notes immediately hooked my ears and then quickly convinced me to do my first “crescendo” of 2012 !

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