1861: A New Russia

1861, St Petersburg. Crowds gather outside the Winter Palace as news spreads that Tsar Alexander II has freed Russia's serfs. More than twenty million people gain their liberty, in a reform that reshapes Russian society and transforms the way artists think about their country.

As writers, painters and composers look beyond the aristocratic culture of St Petersburg, they increasingly turn towards peasant life, folk traditions and Russian history for inspiration. Figures such as Mikhail Glinka, Mily Balakirev and the composers of the "Mighty Handful" seek a musical language that reflects Russia itself rather than the conventions of western Europe.

From Glinka's pioneering use of folk song to Mussorgsky's revolutionary realism and Rimsky-Korsakov's colourful orchestral storytelling, a new Russian music begins to emerge. These composers create works that continue to shape ideas of Russian identity long after the reforms of the 1860s have passed into history.

Gillian Moore is joined by a roster of distinguished historians for this major new BBC Radio 3 series, charting a course through 1000 years of classical music history. For the next eight programmes, historian Kate Williams is in the chair, as together they explore the rich musical world of the nineteenth century.

Producer: Megan Jones
Academic Consultant: Professor Laura Tunbridge, University of Oxford
Story Consultant: Kate Leys
Series Editor for BBC Audio: Emma Harding

Key Changes theme tune composed by Joseph Howard and performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Kerem Hasan.

MUSIC DETAILS

Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov – In the Palace of the Kremlin (Final Scene)
Houston Symphony Orchestra
Leopold Stokowski (conductor)

Mikhail Glinka: Kamarinskaya
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Vassily Sinaisky (conductor)

Mily Balakirev: Overture on Three Russian Themes
USSR Symphony Orchestra
Yevgeny Svetlanov (conductor)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 – Finale

Modest Mussorgsky: Night on a Bare Mountain

Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov – Kromy Forest Scene
Chorus and Orchestra of the Berlin Philharmonic
Claudio Abbado (conductor)

Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition – The Great Gate of Kyiv

Mily Balakirev: Islamey
Lang Lang (piano)

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade – II. The Story of the Kalendar Prince

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Festival Overture

To listen to this programme using most smart speakers, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Key Changes."