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Islamey
EntityQ1192074· pop 15· linked from 43 articles

Islamey

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Also known as Oriental Fantasy

Islamey: Oriental Fantasy (), is a composition for piano by Russian composer Mily Balakirev written in 1869. Harold C. Schonberg noted that Islamey was "at one time…considered the most difficult of all piano pieces and is still one of the knucklebusters." Its difficulty has led to the creation of numerous ossias (alternative passages) and made it popular as a virtuosic showpiece.

Wikidata facts

Composer
Mily Balakirev
Duration
8
Tonality
B-flat minor
Show 4 more facts
instrumentation
piano
publication date
1869-01-01
copyright status
public domain
title
Исламей
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~4 min read

Encyclopedic overview

7 sections
Contents
  • Composition
  • Difficulty
  • Legacy and influences
  • Recordings
  • References
  • Sources
  • External links

Islamey: Oriental Fantasy (), is a composition for piano by Russian composer Mily Balakirev written in 1869. Harold C. Schonberg noted that Islamey was "at one time…considered the most difficult of all piano pieces and is still one of the knucklebusters." Its difficulty has led to the creation of numerous ossias (alternative passages) and made it popular as a virtuosic showpiece.

==Composition== Balakirev, a committed nationalist whose music was influenced by Russian traditions, was inspired to write the piece after a trip to the Caucasus, as he relates in a letter:

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Islamey” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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