April: Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition

[Diapason]

Speaking of recordings, the 2 piano versions I have range from bland to dire. I always knew this, but recent listening has really driven it home. I'll come to those later, but has anyone got any cast-iron recommendations, with great performances and reference-quality sonics?

[Jared]

Speaking of recordings, the 2 piano versions I have range from bland to dire. I always knew this, but recent listening has really driven it home. I'll come to those later, but has anyone got any cast-iron recommendations, with great performances and reference-quality sonics?

This is a subject I had planned to deal with in more detail later in the month, however:

Simon: For piano versions, there appear to be more pedestrian ones than highly praised ones, other than the Richter 1958 Sofia recital, which is considered a must. Here are four more which come out quite well:

1) Demidenko: Exciting, muscular, but pricey:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mussorgsky-Prok ... 188&sr=8-1

2) Vieru: Low tension, almost Baroque style interpretation, but now exhorbitant:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pictures-An-Exh ... 334&sr=1-1

3) Pletnev: A colourful & commanding recreation, but not cheap either:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pictures-Exhibi ... 711&sr=1-2

4) Brendel: Monumental and well paced AND cheap(ish):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mussorgsky-Pict ... 428&sr=1-1

so, all in all, as I said in my opening notes in the calendar thread, if you don't like the coughing in the Richter, get yourself the Brendel!

[fergus]

This is not boding particularly well for me on this one is it?

Fergus, Youtube has several examples of each pictorial section played on piano, which will be perfectly adequate for the task of getting to grips with the music; for which I have started to and will contiue to post links. Please don't feel pressured into buying several different versions of a piece you might not enjoy, purely for familiarisation purposes. You have one live performance by a world class pianist which should be enough, to be able to actively join in for the month.

Cheers for that Jared. I am not being negative about this and I intend to give it lots of time. I look forward to a challenge and so far, with your help, I have taken quite a few steps along the road.

[james]

What would you recommend or what version do you prefer James?

Hi Fergus,

Jared has given some recommendations. My favourite is Lazar Berman and it has the advantage of being cheap[ish] and coupled with an orchestral performance [Berman]
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mussorgsky-Pict ... 663&sr=1-1

Jared's recommendation also combines the piano and orchestral versions [Brendal]
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mussorgsky-Pict ... =1-2-spell

For piano only versions it is ages since I bought my copies so they are more or less out of print .. but here goes

[Lars Voght]
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Komarova-Mussor ... =1-2-spell

[Ronald Smith]
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pictures-Exhibi ... 532&sr=1-2

A version I do NOT like is [Ugorski]
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pictures-at-Exh ... 996&sr=1-1

As I mentioned earlier these are versions I bought years ago and they are probably not worth seeking out since some of them are quite expensive these days.

I like the Pletnev version [as recommended by Jared] but I think [as far as I can remember] he omits one of the the Promenade movements [as Ravel does in his orchestral version] so [Pletnev]
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pictures-Exhibi ... 164&sr=1-2

[I have given the amazon listings for these CD's but they may well be available cheaper elsewhere]. Ugorski was the first CD version I bought .

James

[fergus]

That is excellent James. Coupled with Jared you have provided us with plenty of choice. Thank you.

[james]

One great advantage of buying Pictures on CD [as a piano only version] is that it is usually coupled with other quite interesting music ...

[DaveF]

I'll try to pick up a copy of this later in the month but to be honest I'm not so sure if it will do anything for me. Even very well known piano works just tend to bore me.
But with the excellent commentary and posts here, who knows, I might find it easier with this piece.

[Jared]

But with the excellent commentary and posts here, who knows, I might find it easier with this piece.

Dave, I'm really quite fascinated about some of the stuff I'm picking up for this thread... and there's much more to come.. so please bear with it, my friend.. ;-)

[bombasticDarren]

This a very acceptable piano recording too:-

[Claus]

I spent last night in the company of these very different readings:







Great thanks to Jared for the excellent notes which have been really helpful. I decided to do a rough compare of all works, which meant playing the work in sections one CD after the other. This was really interesting but took a long time so I am only through about a third so far. I will return after easter with my findings in more detail hopefully.