Rimsky-Korsakov – Concerto in C-sharp Minor, Op. 30 & Arensky – Fantasia on Russian Folksongs

Together in one package Music Minus One brings you two of nineteenth-century Russia’s greatest works for piano and orchestra, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Piano Concerto (1883) and his protege Anton Arensky’s Fantasia on Russian Folksongs for Piano and Orchestra (1899). Both of these short concerted works are single-movement fantasias on Russian folk themes filled with the thunderous orchestrationa and big Russian sounds one associates with Imperial Russia. Both of these works present a perfect opportunity for the pianist or advancing student who wants to tackle a big Romantic-era concerted work but may not be ready for the full-scale concerto. With their relatively short lengths and only moderately-difficult piano parts, they give the thrill of full-scale performance with significantly less investment than would be otherwise possible with longer works. This Music Minus One edition includes a CD containing the complete performance of the concerto in digital stereo; a second digital stereo version of the concerto minus the soloist, voluminously indexed for ease of practice and performance; and a fully annotated score especially prepared for this MMO release, printed on high-quality ivory paper with informative liner notes.