All the Russias. A Musical Journey 1/4: The Little Birch Tree (Simon Broughton, 2002) VOSI

The entire sweep of Russian musical history is explored in this series, beginning with its origins in ancient chants and folk music, stretching through to radical contemporary composers like Schnittke and Gubaidulina. Artistic director of the Kirov, Valery Gergiev, presents excerpts from the orchestral and vocal legacy of composers such as Mussorgsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich. The Little Birch Tree In this first programme, Valery Gergiev takes us into the heart of the Russian countryside. Over the centuries, the traditions of folk culture have been an assertion of the Russian identity and the melodies of the countryside can be found everywhere in Russian classical music from Glinka and Tchaikovsky to Stravinsky and the present day. Filmed largely in the remote countryside this is an evocation of Russia’s rural heart and a search for the origins of the Russian folk-song that is at the core of all Russian music.