A short while ago, I mentioned a cinematic treatment of an episode from the career of “Stenka Razin,” made in 1908, originally featuring a score by Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov (he of “Caucasian Sketches” fame). The score may very well be lost — it doesn’t appear with any of the prints I could find posted online — but the film fascinates, not only as a faithful translation of the poem, but as the very first Russian film.
Watch it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo7pSJIPdY4
Also, sample from this opulent telling of “Sadko” (1952), scored using Rimsky-Korsakov’s music, which lends to some rather grandiose moments. There’s a very cool confrontation with Vikings at around the 43 minute mark!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyUGAZZ1AEk
Finally, here’s a big screen version of “Ilya Muromets” (1956), before Roger Corman got a hold of it, reedited it and dubbed it as “The Sword and the Dragon”:
Reinhold Gliere’s Symphony No. 3, “Ilya Muromets,” begins at around 9:45 ET on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com