[Ericus Rex]

I've never heard of him before today.  One of his orchestral works got played this morning through my Verizon streaming classical channel.  Sounded pretty good to me!  What are some of his best pieces I should start out with?

[Photon46]

Shchedrin and Plisetskaya on their 50th wedding anniversary


Shchedrin just surfaced on my musical radar as well. I picked up a well preserved copy of his ballet "Anna Karenina" on vinyl and have listened to it several times. I quite like it and will look out for more of his music. (As an interesting aside, he's married to one of the greatest dancers and best looking women of the twentieth century, Maya Plisetskaya.)

www.amazon.com/Shchedrin-Karenina-Complete-conducts-Orchestra/dp/B000001LMA/ref=sr_1_4?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1338506820&sr=1-4

[Randy]

His best known work ironically is an arrangement called "Carmen Suite."  It is what you might expect, a kind of jazzed-uped version of Bizet's music. Entertaining, but only mildly so, imo. I have a few other CDs of his music, and like his piano concertos esp.

[bakufu]

jay nordlinger (my favorite music critic these days) has had a couple of articles devoted to shchedrin.

http://cityarts.info/2011/07/21/when-ballet-and-music-are-equal-partners/

http://global.nationalreview.com/nordlinger/nordlinger_shchedrin07-18-11.asp

[jeffreybehr]

His best known work ironically is an arrangement called "Carmen Suite."  It is what you might expect, a kind of jazzed-uped version of Bizet's music.  Indeed, and with lots of percussion.

Entertaining, but only mildly so, imo.  ...and mine.

I have a few other CDs of his music, and like his piano concertos esp.

[Soundminded]

I've got a recording of his Carmen Suite. I think it's a Russian recording. I haven't listened to it in many years. It's got a lot of percussion. It's kind of fun....once in awhile. I think I'll try to find it and listen to it. Rather unusual.

[jimtranr]

Very late into this thread, but there's a Melodiya CD with Svetlanov conducting Shchedrin's entertaining sprightly, motoric Naughty Limericks. For a dramatic change in mood, his Stalin Cocktail is, if anything an even more hair-raising portrait than the second movement of Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony and is available on a Chandos CD, Turovsky conducting, coupling it with his Carmen Suite.

[Scottdazzle]

This is a musical and audio delight! If you like Russian orchestral music or Carmen you will probably love this.