Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition/Balakirev: Islamey
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Music CD Cover
Brand: NAXOS of AmericaComposer: Modest Mussorgsky
Composer: Mily Balakirev
Performer: Jenö Jandó
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1994-02-15
Music Label: Naxos
Soundtracks:
- Pictures at an Exhibition (Kartinki s vïstavski), for piano
- Islamey, Oriental fantasy for piano
- Gopak (Hopak), for piano, transcribed by Mussorgsky from the opera Sorochintsï Fair: Hopak
- On the Southern Shore of the Crimea (Na yuzhnom beregu Krïma), for piano: No. 1, Gurzuf
- On the Southern Shore of the Crimea (Na yuzhnom beregu Krïma), for piano: No. 2, Capriccio
- Sleza (A Tear), for piano
Free Music Notes for Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition/Balakirev: Islamey
Free Music Review: Drastic, original ... and a pianist who avoids the limelight
Hit: 5 Stars
Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881) was one of that small group of amateur musicians, known as the "Mighty Handful", who came under the influence of Mily Balakirew and began to develop a Russian national musical language. In its early years, this group was radically dogmatic, reflecting probably the character of its obviously difficult leader. Mussorgsky, at first a dandy and then a hopeless alcoholic, never really developed beyond the stage of an accomplished amateur, and at his death he left a good deal of work unfinished. Perhaps his greatest achievement was his work for the stage ("Boris Godunov"), but I suspect that most music-lovers associate him first of all with his "Pictures of an Exhibition", written and published for piano solo in 1874 as a reaction to the death of the painter-architect Viktor Hartmann in the previous year. Vladimir Stassov had organized an exhibition of Hartmann's work to which Mussorgsky had contributed two drawings. The exhibits were anything but a display of Russian nationalism, reflecting rather Hartmann's years of journeying through Europe. For his musical portrait, Mussorgsky chose pictures not only of Russian themes, but from Poland, Italy and France. He leads the viewer from one picture to another by means of an instantly recognizable theme, the "Promenade", but this gradually merges with the pictures themselves, so that the listener is, without being aware of it, drawn into what he is purportedly just studying as an observer. The individual portraits are given depth by the use of drastic musical means testifying to Mussorgsky's astounding originality: just listen to "Bydlo", "Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle" or "La porte de Bohatyrs de Kiew" or even to some of the less substantial portraits!
Hungarian pianist Jeno Jando gives his listeners an almost ideal opportunity to get to know this work: Jando is not one of those pianists who like to turn the limelight on themselves, he rather dedicates himself to allowing the composer have his way and the composition to speak for itself. The recorded sound of this CD is, by Naxos standards, excellent, although the microphones were perhaps a little too near for my taste, one can hear practically every reverberation, every creak of the piano - and Jando makes his concert piano reverberate very often with almost brutal attacks on the keys at points where this seems appropriate.
As "Kartinki s vystavki" (the Russian title) only lasts a good 33 minutes (as so often, Naxos has completely misprinted the timing on the CD cover), Jando offers a number of smaller pieces as an "encore". Four small late pieces by Mussorgsky (from the two years up to his death) are interesting for their Ukrainian melodies, but the main focus here is on Balakirew's "Islamey", an incredibly difficult piece combining three melodies from the Caucasus and Armenia and completed in 1902. Jando masters it with seeming ease; as far as I am aware, this is the only budget-price recording of this piece, and purchasing it is an act of thrift! My five-star evaluation takes account of this value-for-money aspect.
As a footnote I want to add that I prefer Jandó's version to the similarly-priced competition from Harmonia Mundi in the shape of Brigitte Engerer Mussorgsky: Tableaux d'une Exposition/Pictures at an Exhibition/Bilder einer Ausstellung
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition/Balakirev: Islamey Poster
Format: 6 tracks, Audio CDRun Time: 57 minutesPublisher: NAXOS of AmericaISBN: 0-730099504423Classical Music CDs
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