Symphonic poem Borodin's "In the Steppes of Central Asia" "powerful orchestral pictures, each unique in its composer's output". Titled a "musical portrait", "In the Steppes of Central Asia" evokes the journey of a caravan across the steppes. "Night on Bald Mountain", especially its original version, contains harmony that is often striking, sometimes pungent and highly abrasive; its initial stretches especially pull the listener into a world of uncompromisingly brutal directness and energy. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov wrote only two orchestral works that rank as symphonic poems, his "musical tableau" "Sadko" (1867–92) and "Skazka" ("Legend", 1879–80), originally titled "Baba-Yaga". While this may perhaps be surprising,
Symphonic music in Iran of being adapted into major or minor tonalities, and therefore, a number of Iranian folk songs were arranged for orchestral accompaniment. "Symphonische Dichtungen aus Persien" ("Symphonic Poems from Persia"), a collection of Persian symphonic works, was performed by the German Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Iranian conductor Ali Rahbari in 1980. Loris Tjeknavorian, a celebrated Iranian Armenian composer and conductor, composed "Rostam and Sohrab", an opera with Persian libretto that is based on the tragedy of "Rostam and Sohrab" from prominent medieval Persian poet Ferdowsi's epic poem "Šāhnāme", in over two decades. It was first performed by the Tehran