Of the five Russian composers of the Russian national school (also called "innovators", the mighty five", "the mighty handful"), Mili Alexejewitsch Balakirev (1837 - 1910) was the circle's ruling spirit and its - sometimes dictatorial - teacher of composition (to whose categorical demands, among other things, we may ascribe the astonishing artistic output achieved by a Borodin or a Mussorgsky). The sole professionalism, which he compared with musical academicism. And yet one can observe in his work a curious sense of frustration in the rounding - off and completion of his compositions. Typical of Balakirev's inspiration, which was quickly stimulated but then tailed off under the pressure of his own hypercritical standards, are the varying fortunes of his sonata in B minor, the composition of which was spread over about 50 years.

Lista utworów:
Islamei (Balakirew Mili)