as his swan song). In his choral works the composer combines the melodic basis of the traditional Russian musical style with remarkable contrapuntal writing. Taneyev regarded his Oresteia, originally conceived in 1882, as his major achievement. This work, which the composer entitled a 'musical trilogy' rather than an opera, was closely modeled on the original plays of Aeschylus and was first performed at the Mariinsky Theatre on 17 October 1895. Taneyev wrote a separate concert overture, based on some of the opera's major themes, which was conducted by Tchaikovsky in 1889. Rimsky-Korsakov considered many of Taneyev's compositions to be "most dry and laboured in character." A private hearing of Oresteia at his home, with Taneyev at the piano, was quite another matter. The opera, he writes, "astonished us all with pages of extraordinary beauty and expressiveness". He added that Taneyev's working methods "ought to result in a dry and academic composition, devoid of the shadow of an inspiration; in reality, however, Oresteia proved quite the reverse—for all its strict premeditation, the opera was striking in its wealth of beauty and expressiveness." Along with beauty and expressiveness, Taneyev's music could also show a whimsical streak. Gerald Abraham writes, "Taneyev had a dual nature rather like Lewis Carroll's, half mathematician, half humorist". Among Taneyev's unpublished works are reportedly various parodies, including "Quartets of Government Officials", "humorous choruses, comic fugues and variations, toy symphonies, a mock ballet for Tchaikovsky's birthday with an absurd scenario, and music which is an ingenious contrapuntal pot-pourri of themes from Tchaikovsky's works". Selected discography The Russian Piano Quartet: Taneyev's Piano Quartet in E major, Op. 20; Paul Juon's Rhapsody; and Alexander Borodin's Polovtsian Dances. Performed by the Ames Piano Quartet (Dorian 93215) Concert Suite for Violin & Orchestra; Entr'acte; and Oresteya Overture. Performed by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy and Pekka Kuusisto as violin soloist (Ondine 959-2) Trio in E-flat major, Op. 31; Trio in B minor; and Trio in D major. Performed by the Belcanto Strings (MDG 6341003) Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 30; and Piano Trio in D major, Op. 22. Performed by Mikhail Pletnev (piano), Vadim Repin (violin) and Lynn Harrell (cello) joined in the quintet by Ilya Gringolts (violin) and Nobuko Imai (viola) (Deutsche Grammophon 4775419) Symphony No. 1; and Symphony No. 3. Performed by the Russian State Symphony Orchestra conducted by Valery Polyansky (Chandos 10390), 2004 Symphony No. 2;