The Russian composer and critic, César Cui, was the son of a French officer who had remained in Russia after the retreat of Napoleon in 1812.

He studied at St. Petersburg where he became a professor and expert in fortification at the Academy of Military Engineering.

He subsequently became a member of the group of Russian composers known as the Mighty Handful, or the Five (with Borodin, Rimski-Korsakov, Balakirev and Moussorgsky).

Cui's first opera was "A Prisoner in the Caucasus", with a libretto based on Pushkin.

His friends and supporters found his opera "William Ratcliff", based on the play by Heine, particularly pleasant.

Further operas followed, enjoying varying success, followed by four final children's operas.

In his four orchestral Suites Cui demonstrated his ability in the handling of attractive smaller forms, belying contemporary accusations of lack of skill in orchestration.

Suite n. 4 offers orchestral arrangements of piano pieces written originally for his Belgian patroness, the Countess of Mercy-Argenteau.

The Suite concertante for violin and orchestra makes an unusual addition to solo violin repertoire.

Cui claimed that he was compelled to avoid Russian subjects in his operas since he was half French and half Lithuanian.

- MIDI FILE - "Orientale" (2'32'')

His songs, however, treat Russian texts and include settings of Pushkin, Nekrasov and A.K. Tolstoy, while his choral music is generally on a more ambitious scale.

Cui's chamber music includes various shorter pieces for violin and piano or cello and piano, notably two sets of miniatures for violin and piano, as well as three string quartets.

Cui also shows his gifts as a miniaturist in a large number of attractive short pieces for piano.