Here’s the Procession of the Sardar, by Mikhail Mikhailovich Ippolitov-Ivanov. My father had a 45 rpm record with this on one side and Valse Triste on the other. I listened to it endlessly, especially in those cold after-christmas months when the view outside my window was a field of snow and bare trees, and I wanted something redolent of old movies and exotic places. On long winter afternoons I would snuggle under my most colorful afghan, read Jack Vance novels, and listen to Anita’s Dance, Mussorgsky, and the Procession of the Sardar.
And what, you ask, is a Sardar anyway? Wikipedia tells me it was a title of honor applied to commanders like this gentleman, a past Prime Minister of Iran. A procession of the like must have been truly impressive!
