Polovtsian Dance No. 17

The Anacrouse collection offers pianists, beginners and advanced alike, a wide choice of classical works from the Renaissance to the present day. It brings together major works of the repertoire as well as rarer pieces, and also offers transcriptions for piano solo or four hands, selected for their musical and educational interest. Each score, available individually, benefits from careful editorial work: a rigorously established musical text, clear and legible engraving, accompanied by a short biography of the composer and a note on the work.

The “Polovtsian Dance No. 17” (Theme), presented here in a solo piano transcription by David Neyrolles, is a spellbinding piece that allows work on lyricism and depth of tone. This title is taken from the reference songbook “9 Famous Classical Themes for Piano”, the third volume of the Anacrouse collection. This elementary-to-intermediate transcription offers fluid writing that makes it possible to approach expressive phrasing and fluidity of the hands, while preserving the exoticism and sweetness of this Eastern European melody.

Composed by Alexander Borodin (1833-1887) for his opera Prince Igor (premiered in 1890), this dance is a summit of Russian Romanticism. Its main theme, of nostalgic beauty, has enjoyed immense popularity beyond the opera stage, inspiring many covers in popular music and cinema. This edition allows the pianist to rediscover at the keyboard all the fire, brilliance and Oriental poetry of this masterly page, a true sonic journey to the heart of the Central Asian steppes.