Alexander Borodin

Polovtsian Dances

These dances represent surely some of the most beautiful moments from Russian opera repertoire. They are taken from the opera 'Prince Igor', left unfinished at Borodins death but completed three years later by his friends Rimsky-Korsakov and Glasunov. The work has become one of the most popular concert suites. Their place in the opera is as an entertainment for Prince Igor, who was at the time the prisoner of the Polovstian Tatares Khan. The eastern colour in the music and the alternation from languorous grace to almost brutal force can hardly be expressed by the music alone.