Tune in Today: How Balakirev’s ‘Islamey’ Captures Orientalism in Virtuosic Fashion

The Circassian Folklore ensemble in 2010. ShapsougSochi1864/CC BY-SA 3.0

When Mily Balakirev’s “Islamey: Oriental Fantasy” first premiered in 1869, it quickly gained a reputation as one of the most difficult piano pieces ever composed. Finger-twisting double notes and difficult repeated-note patterns made this work an insurmountable challenge even for seasoned virtuosos. Even Balakirev himself, an accomplished pianist in his own right, admitted that he was unable to play some of the work’s trickier passages.

Yet while the difficulty of this flashy showpiece brought it notoriety and fame, it is the music’s beautiful orientalism and exoticism, as well as its influence on the piano repertoire, that have cemented its place in history.

Mily Balakirev and Russian Romanticism

While classical music was being dominated by the traditions of Western European countries such as Germany and Italy in the early 19th century, Russia was struggling to find its musical identity. Before he composed “Islamey,” Balakirev was on this quest.