Richard Todd:

>Here thought I knew Mussorgksky's work reasonably well and along comes
>a radio announcer announcing something called Sunrise over the Moscow
>River.  To make matters worse, he claims that this exquisite little
>piece comes from Khovanchina, with which I thought I had some
>familiarity.  Can anyone fill me in?  Thanks.

I think it's the prelude to the opera, which is spelt in a number of
ways.  The CD I have containing this work calls it Khovanshchina but
I've also seen Khovantschina which seems to be closer to the French and
German equivalent spellings - any Russian speakers among our number?  It
appears to be the prelude to the opera and is variously known as
Dawn/Sunrise on/over the Moscow River which don't mean quite the same
thing.  Mussorgsky left the opera unfinished and the orchestration of
the piece in question is usually heard in a version by Shostakovich,
whose Op 106 is, apparently, an orchestration of the whole opera.  The
DG CD 439 892-2, Russian Overtures (Russian National Orch/Mikhail
Pletnev, 62:02), has the usual suspects and such rarities as Rimsky's
The Tsar's Bride, Glazunov's Ouverture Solennelle, and Tchaikovsky's
Overture in F.

Richard Pennycuick