Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 - 1908)
Scheherezade, Op. 35
(first movement)

Like many Russian composers in the late 19th century, Rimsky-Korsakov began as an amateur. From a musical family, his first job was as a naval officer, and no-one was more surprised than he was when, at the age of 27, he was offered the post of professor of composition at the St.Petersburg conservatoire. He brought into Russian music a taste for the exotic and fairy tales, which continued into the works of Stravinsky. Scheherazade dates from 1888.