Inayat Khan : Sakuntala before Shiva (Musical illustrations) Video #3 of 3

Video #1
1-Sword dance (sacred dance of the warriors); 2-A priest offers a sacrifice to Shiva; 3-Maidens bring flowers to the god (the Song of the Dawn); 4-The flowergirls' prayer; 5-Shepherds' dance; 6-Sakuntala's lament.
Video #2
7-Sakuntala's dance with a dagger; 8-Shiva sings the melody of the Yogis (the prayer of the Yogis);
9-Shiva's mercy to Sakuntala; 10-Sakuntala thanks Shiva with a dance (Tandow); 11-Shiva meditates; 12-The king marries Sakuntala.
Video #3 (this video)
13-The people sing the praise of Shiva; 14-Liberation Song; 15-Dances (ballet); 16-The dance of life.
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Inayat Khan (1882-1927) was a founder of the international Sufi movement, but his first role on leaving India in 1910 was that of a touring musician. He spent the winter of 1913-4 in Moscow and while there created some musical illustrations with other Indian musicians for a sketch based on the Sanskrit play Abhijñānaśākuntalam (The Recognition of Sakuntala) written some 2,000 years ago by Kālidāsa. The music was played on Indian instruments, but two Russian musicians, Sergius Tolstoy and Vladimir Pohl, transcribed the music for piano, and published it under the title '16 Hindoo Songs and Dances'. The arrangements have been heavily Westernised, and as such sound scarcely more exotic than some works of Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Stravinsky. Nevertheless, Inayat Khan was apparently consulted on the harmonisations, and these pieces form a fascinating sidelight of pre-revolutionary Russian piano music. In their directness of expression, the pieces are sometimes stylistically reminiscent of the work of Rebikov. The piano score contains some indications of orchestrations, so other versions may exist. Some of the chordal writing is awkward, and as I have a limited stretch between second and fifth fingers I have to arpeggiate chords (particularly in piece #12) that other pianists might take in their stride! I am indebted to Sergey Moskalev of "Science and Religion" magazine, Moscow for bringing this fascinating work to my attention.
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Played by Phillip Sear
http://www.psear.co.uk

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[AndreaPianoPlayer]

Mr Sear, thanks for posting this videos, they give me so much pleasure!

[PSearPianist]

@AndreaPianoPlayer Thank you - I'm glad you liked them!

[clavis55]

Very amazing pieces and music Phillip! Thank you!

Markus

[PSearPianist]

@clavis55 Thank you for that. I see you are working on Brahms at the moment!

[SergeyMoskalev]

Dear Phillip, you are absolutely right about orchestration! This music was written and intended for short ballet (Sketch). Firstly composer Sergei Taneyev want to made orchestration by himself, but later he give this task to his pupils - Sergei Tolstoy and Vladimir Pohl. Now this scores for orchestra are in Museum of Musical Culture (Moscow).

Thank you for your amazing performance and atmosphere of this music!

[PSearPianist]

@SergeyMoskalev Thank you. I would love to hear the orchestral version one day, maybe it would sound more Eastern. Thank you so much for bringing these pieces to my attention. As a piece of 'programme music' it would make a good change from the overplayed 'Pictures at an Exhibition'.

[PSearPianist]

@jannarta Sorry to hear that - but YouTube have to do this to prevent spam. Some while ago I had an outbreak of spam comments on some of my videos.

[PSearPianist]

@twDeidara1 I hope that means you liked it!

[twDeidara1]

wooooww powerfull!!!!!!  *run* :)

[jannarta]

The new system cut in with the requirement of a verification lower case letter puzzle and also said I had posted too many reports. It stopped a report on Sleepy Lagoon. Regards jannarta.