Description
A mainstay of orchestral concert repertoire, the Overture from Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila is a virtuoso showpiece, particularly for strings. This arrangement features the first use of the hocket texture that we employ occasionally across the album, where players alternate semi-quavers to achieve scales at staggering speeds, a technique established for classical guitar ensemble with repertoire such as Tedesco’s 24 Preludes and Fugues or Duo Assad’s arrangements of Rameau. The opera, based on a poem by the Romantic Russian author Alexander Pushkin, tells the story of the princess Lyudmila who has been captured by the evil wizard Chernomor and the heroic quest of the brave knight Ruslan to save her. Perhaps not the most original of stories, it is enlivened by its fantastical elements such as a giant head, a magic ring, a sleeping spell, and seductive young maidens.
