The Nursery (Russian: Детская, Detskaya, literally Children's [Room]) is a song cycle by Modest Mussorgsky set to his own lyrics, composed between 1868 and 1872. The cycle was published in two series. Only the first two songs survive of the second series. During the late ’60s and early ’70s, Schnittke’s experiments with form and compositional style produced several important works: the Violin Sonata “Quasi una sonata” (1968), the First Symphony (1969-72), the Suite in the Olden Style (1972), and the Requiem (1975). It was during this period that Schnittke composed In memoriam…, which he adapted from his Piano Quintet (1972-76).

A logical, albeit rare, association of symphonies by Balakirev, the composer of Islamey and Tamara He was the cornerstone of the Russian Mighty Five: César Cui, Aleksandr Borodin, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov and Mily Balakirev, who in the 1860s banded together in an attempt to create a truly national school of Russian music; free of the stifling influence of Italian opera, German lieder, and other western European forms. In this album two prestigious conductors do them justice.