Last week, we were playing catch up and did not have a new Lunch with the Composers. We’re ready to move on to new music this week!
This week, we’ll be listening to The Russian Sailors Dance by Russian composer Reinhold Gliere (1875-1956). The Russian Sailors Dance is part of the ballet “The Red Poppy,” which was composed in 1927. It is often performed by itself and is probably Gliere’s most well-known work. ”The Red Poppy” is set in 1920′s China and has a revolutionary theme. It’s kind of a mature story line (about oppressed laborers in China), so I’m not going to go into more details of the story here.
My boys didn’t know what ballet is, so in case you have all boys at your house and they have no exposure to ballet, here’s a definition: Ballet is a type of dance using precise steps and movements set to music. A ballet can also mean a larger work, such as Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker,” that combines dance and music to tell a story.
This video has nothing at all to look at – no performers and no pretty picture even! I chose this video for the quality of the performance and the recording. Most of the choices out there were home videos of high school orchestras. Nothing against high school orchestras, but this recording is better!
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