April: Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition

[Ciaran]

one of these days, I'll actually learn how to embed a Youtube clip into my posts... you wouldn't have thought it could be that difficult really, would you?

It really isn't! FYP

[Jared]

Maurice Ravel’s ‘Pictures’.

Ravel’s orchestrated version is well known to most, so embarking on a detailed study would perhaps be a little unnecessary, so I will restrict myself to a few salient comments on each piece. Ravel began orchestration in May 1922, completing it in the autumn; ‘The Great Gate of Kiev’ being the first ‘picture’ to be transcribed. It was first performed on October 19, 1922 by Serge Koussevitzky at the Paris Opera. It became an immediate financial success for Ravel, also enhancing his reputation as a composer of substance on both sides of the Atlantic during what had otherwise been a creatively fallow period in his life.

Although the popularity of his achievement with ‘Pictures’ endured throughout the 20th Century, frequently finding itself on concert programmes in both Europe and America, some revisionist conductors and musicologists today find that Ravel's version, in spite of the imaginative use of tone-colour, sacrifices some of the coarse, visceral nature originally intended in Mussorgsky's original score. It should also be noted that Ravel worked from Rimsky-Korsakov's edited version of the piano part – the only one available to him at the time (the Russian Revolution had occurred 5 years earlier followed by Civil War, making the extraction of original documentation an impossibility) – which changed some notes and rhythms.

Ravel's orchestration includes:

3 Flutes (2 doubling Piccolo),
3 Oboes (3rd doubling English Horn),
2 Clarinets (in Bb and A),
Bass Clarinet (in Bb and A),
2 Bassoons,
Contrabassoon,
Alto Saxophone (in Eb),
4 Horns in F,
3 Trumpets in C,
3 Trombones,
Tuba,
Timpani,
Triangle,
Snare Drum,
Whip,
Ratchet,
Cymbal,
Bass Drum,
Gong,
Glockenspiel,
Tubular Bells (in Eb),
Xylophone,
Celeste,
2 Harps,
Strings.

Ravel’s Orchestration in the ‘Promenade’ Themes:

The opening bars, signifying the entrance into the gallery are performed by a lone, almost ‘ceremonial’ trumpet, support by a softly sounding brass chorale. This has prompted some critics to wonder whether Ravel was attempting to conjure up the atmosphere of a state ceremony, rather than one man ambling up the front steps, incognito. That said, the entrance is softened first by the strings, supported by majestic, flowing woodwind to suggest the effortless transportation of the viewer through the gallery.

Here is an excellent version of the opening ‘Promenade’ for orchestra, performed by Valery Gergiev and the Rotterdam Philharmonic, which I hope demonstrates these points:



Ravel builds on the opening theme by utilising the subtle differences in the score, to give subtle variety to each section of the ‘Promenade’, only omitting the final one after ‘Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle’ on the grounds that it is too similar to the first. For instance after the viewer having been stirred by ‘Gnomus’, he employs the 2nd ‘Promenade’ theme to calm down the viewer, through interpolating use of a pensive, almost deliberately languid solo horn with the woodwind section.

Here is the 2nd ‘Promenade’ performed by Claudio Abbado and the LSO:



By way of contrast, the 3rd ‘Promenade’ theme leads with a stirring trumpet, supported by bass tuba and strings. Ravel is here articulating the thoughts of the viewer as he wrenches himself away from the scene of ‘The Old Castle’, before the final, more sprightly notes from the strings suggest his attention has been caught by children playing in ‘The Tuileries Gardens’.

Again, the 3rd ‘Promenade’ is performed by Claudio Abbado and the LSO:



Drawing himself away from the image of the basic form of transport employed in ‘Cattle’, in the 4th and final orchestrated section of the ‘Promenade’, Ravel initially employs the high woodwind section and celeste to suggest a viewer lost in his own thoughts. The lower string section (cellos and double bass) enter at [0.19] to suggest an inner rumination (no pun intended!) of these thoughts, before the higher strings and woodwind gradually encroach, suggesting that the next, intriguing picture, the ‘Ballet of the Chickens in their Shells’, has encroached into his consciousness.

Again, the 4th ‘Promenade’ is performed by Claudio Abbado and the LSO:



Some of you found it helpful to listen to the piano versions of the ‘Promenades’ back to back, so you could hear the subtle stylistic differences used by Mussorgsky; you may find this a similarly useful exercise, in order to immerse yourself with Ravel’s tone-colours for the same piece which, if you are new to this music, will help prepare you for a full, orchestral traversal of the gallery, during our final week.

[Ciaran]

Hey Jared! Use the "youtube" button on top of the editing screen and instead of using

Code: Select all

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5r8sa863Ts[/url]

(with the "URL" button), just extract the video identifier "_5r8sa863Ts" (after the equals sign) and type (or paste) it between the "youtube" tags which the youtube button produces, so that you have

Code: Select all

[youtube]_5r8sa863Ts[/youtube]

and we see:



I've already made the replacement in your post on the previous page to this one.

[Jared]

I've already made the replacement in your post on the previous page to this one.

woohoo!!

thanks, my friend... :-))

[Ciaran]

Excellent! I see you've got the hang of it!

[Jared]

Excellent! I see you've got the hang of it!

thanks to you, my entire thread has just been completely transmorphosised... :-))

[Ciaran]

Glad to be of assistance!

[james]

I got the NCH program today in the post ..

On Sat 23 Feb 2013 there is a concert with Michael O'Rourke [piano] and Stephen Ackery [narrator] performing
Debussy Preludes Book 1
Mussorgsky Pictures ..
Not too sure what having a narator means ..

James

[Seán]

I got the NCH program today in the post ..

On Sat 23 Feb 2013 there is a concert with Michael O'Rourke [piano] and Stephen Ackery [narrator] performing
Debussy Preludes Book 1
Mussorgsky Pictures ..
Not too sure what having a narator means ..

James

Yes, I saw that. A few years ago Lance G Hill over on CMG dedicated one of his radio broadcasts to O'Rourke, he really admires his work.

[fergus]

I only have one version of Ravel’s Orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition....





I have stated before that this work is not one that floats my boat but this fine thread has stimulated an interest in it for me. Incredulously I find myself now saying that I much prefer the original piano version to this version! Given what I know now as a result of Jared’s efforts I find that listening to the piano version is much more rewarding, especially to the imagination. Perhaps Szell’s is not the best version, I don’t know, or perhaps Richter’s playing and interpretation is just so good? An interesting result for me methinks!!