Dear Gentlemen
There are people that think that "The Mighty Five" are
considered Russia’s top composers.
As a matter of fact only four of them were relevant: Mussorgsky,
Rimsky, Balakirev and Borodin, since Cui, as a composer is worth almost
nothing.
They were a team of amateur masters that fought for nationalism.
Tchaikovsky appreciated and promoted them, even if they did not like him.
Mussorgsky compared him with a thief, Rimsky became envious because
Tchaikovsky won more international fame than any of them, and Balakirev
guided him to become a cosmopolitan composer, so he would not interfere in
their nationalism.
Even if Rimsky, Mussorgsky and Borodin were real geniuses, none of them
had his masterful technique in composition,the altitude or his
inspiration,or his unmatchable versatility.
Mussorgsky was more original, and maybe Rimsky’s orchestration is
slightly more colorful, we have to admit that, but in a complete view of
the history of Russian music, only Mussorgsky scratches the top reached by
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, head and shoulders above that great master,
Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich.
Alberto Sáenz Enriquez