Comparing and Contrasting Russian Symphonic Music: Rimsky and Borodin

Comparing and Contrasting Russian Symphonic Music: Rimsky and Borodin
The first song, “In the Steppes of Central Asia,” Alexander Borodin and the second song, “Scheherazade,” by Rimsky-Korsakov are Russian pieces of symphonic music. The student categorizes the two songs as symphonic music because they possess the element of being programmed in a poetic manner. The similarity that the two songs share is their categorization as symphonic music. However the songs are different at other levels of musical analysis. The songs use different structures and instruments. Their inspirations are also different. Since the producers of the songs had different inspirations, the pieces differ at the level of thematic analysis as well.
Borodin’s song qualifies as a Russian song because of what motivated the singer to compose the song. The theme of the song is the celebration of Alexander II’s silver anniversary. The aim of Borodin was to portray the relationship between the Indians and Russians. Caucasus’ steppe lands are the places where the two communities interacted. Although the song conveys historical and political issues that are of great interest to the Russians, the student sees and hears the elements that show a mixture of the ideas of different nations. The music’s opening theme has Russian elements of instrumentation. However, as the song proceeds, the student listens to the sound from the horn. The horn is an instrument that was common in the music of the Asians. The instruments of the song concur with the theme which is Russian-Indian relations at Caucasus.
Like Borodin’s composition, Rimsky’s song also has a mixture of the Russian and Asian musical elements. Rimsky’s motivation was Borodin, whose music influenced how Rimsky composed his music. However, the Rimsky’s song is characteristically different from Borodin’s performance because he uses four distinctive movements that are notable in his music. The music begins with a prelude. It proceeds to Ballade, and then it moves to Adagio. The last movement of the piece is called the finale. The movements that the student listens in the Rimsky’s song are characteristically missing from Borodin’s composition. Borodin, therefore, influenced Rimsky thematically but not stylistically because the styles of presentation for the two pieces are totally different.
The two sings have a thematic connection because they target the powerful people in the society. While Borodin’s composition was for the anniversary celebrations of Alexander II, Rimsky’s composition targeted Sultan Shakhriar. The musician expressed the orchestral composition in four suits, which is the point that made it outstanding from Borodon’s music.
The two pieces compare greatly in terms of the instruments that they use. However, the listener does not hear the horn in Rimsky’s music. Rimsky’s piece does not have the strong connection with the Asian community because its theme is different from that of Borodin. Borodin addresses the Indian0Russian relations, and the musician includes the horn to signify the Indian culture in the song. Instruments like Flutes, trumpets, Oboe, Clarinets, Trombones, and strings are common in the two songs. The instruments are common in the symphonic music compositions, and the Russian symphony is characteristic of the instruments. The two pieces are ideal Russian pieces because they address issues (political) within the Russian community. However, the pieces also extend to include the Eastern ideas of musical compositions.
In summary, the two Russian musical compositions share similarity is addressing the political class. Rimsky borrows the thematic idea from Borodin’s compositions. The pieces also share similarity in terms of instruments. However, Rimsky’s composition is different from Borodin’s song because of the four distinctive movements in it. On the other hand, both of them qualify as symphonic music because of their programmed and poetic structure.