Among the group of composers referred to as the “Russian Five” or the “Mighty Handful” – which also includes Borodin, Balakirev, Mussorgsky, and Cui – Rimsky-Korsakov stands out as being particularly concerned with the art of orchestration. His text on the subject is still considered a classic, and he assisted several of his colleagues with the orchestration of their music. He also wrote more extensively for the orchestra than did the others, with his output including three sizeable symphonies and the well known orchestral suite Scheherazade. Generally, his music is more about orchestral color and effect than the notes themselves; a relative paucity of melodic material is offset by the many brilliant settings a single melody may adopt.
The composer made no apology for this shift away from traditional priorities. In his autobiography, he addressed this very issue with respect to the Capriccio Espagnol (as quoted by David Lloyd-Jones):
The opinion formed by both critics and the
public that the Capriccio is a magnificently orchestrated piece is
wrong. The Capriccio is a brilliant composition
for orchestra. The change of
timbres, the felicitous choice of melodic designs and figuration patterns,
exactly suiting each kind of instrument, the brief virtuoso cadenzas,…
here constitute the very essence of
the composition…. All in all,
the Capriccio is undoubtedly a purely
superficial piece, but vividly brilliant for all that.
Rimsky-Korsakov turned to the colorful rhythms of