Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev (1837 – 1910)

A Russian composer better known today for bringing together the composers known as The Five than for his own music, with the possible exception of his Islamey: an Oriental Fantasy, which is still popular among pianists.

Balakirev was somewhat notorious for taking long periods of time to finish works; for instance, his "Sonata in B minor" was written over the course of 50 years. Nevertheless, he managed to produce a large body of work, much of which is rarely performed today.

His works consist largely of songs and collections of folk songs, but include two symphonies, two symphonic poems (Russia and Tamara), and four overtures, and a number of piano pieces, including Islamey: an Oriental Fantasy. His orchestral works are generally pieces of programme music in a style developed by Balakirev's disciples, such as Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov. Islamey is particularly favored among pianists, due to its difficult nature.

His influence as a conductor, and as an organizer of Russian music, give him the place of a founder of a new movement. Though he was one of the founders of the Free School, he strongly opposed what he termed "musical professionalism," qualities he associated with the established Russian music scene in the mid 1800s. He sought to imprint his vision of music onto his students, and was thus the defacto head of the five during their existence. He ruled this group often with a strong hand. Mussorgsky in particular often came under fire from his teacher; due to Balakirev's harsh criticism of his Night on Bald Mountain, the work was never performed in Mussorgsky's lifetime. Outside of the group, Balakirev also greatly encouraged Peter Tchaikovsky in his studies, eventually inspiring him to write the Manfred Symphony (something that Tchaikovsky acknowledged when he dedicated the piece to Balakirev).