April: Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition

[Seán]

I'm approaching this work for the first time and given my general disinterest in piano works I wasnt sure what to expect. The notes in this thread have helped immensely in trying to both understand and get 'hook's on the music. Super effort Jared!
The above recording sounds superb. I also have the Ravel version on LP but for whetever reason it did nothing for me.

Interesting thoughts Dave from a fellow solo-piano-phobe!!!

I love solo piano in both Jazz and Classical music but the original piano score for The Pictures does not do it for me.

[Seán]

Jared, this thread is a stimulating and superb piece of work, well done.

[cybot]

Fantastic piece of work Jared....Sorry I haven't contributed. I have my reasons which stems from my love of improvisation. Written music tends to leave me cold and the 'plots'/storylines can seem a bit tenuous, to say the least! Still, I have learned an awful lot since the series started and when the time comes to listen to my own classical collection again I will be using all the various guides in the hope that I will gain something extra out of the various pieces....Thank you!

[Jared]

thanks to everyone for their kind words... remember, we are all learning together... myself included!

anyway, the infamous Baba-Yaga will be making her appearance at some stage tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled!

[bombasticDarren]

^^ Jared, I too have enjoyed reading the thread. I am afraid I have been unable to adequately contribute - to this thread or the forum as a whole - as I am writing an essay in my spare time.

I will also add though that Pictures was one of the pieces I 'learnt' CM through and as a consequence I played the thing to death (orchestral version). Regrettably this means, essay or no essay, I would find it hard to commit as vehemently as I may have done 4-5 years ago...

That said, I have purchased the Brendel-Previn disc you signposted and I will listen to it with this thread open as a companion before the month is out...

[fergus]

I have to say I'm really getting into this one!!


I had to search around a bit to get a recording of this as I didn't have anything.. so this was the first one I came across:




Jared, your notes are just fantastic. I really appreciate the time and effort you have put into this. Like I suspect what others have done here, I copied the text into one doc so I could use it as a guide while I listened.

So the first thing I realised was that this was originally meant as a solo piano piece (more on that later) - surprising! The recording above seems very well done, quite dynamic and its also a fairly "quiet" recording - done before the loudness wars hit! I did recognise the opening promenade, but that was it really, everything else was my first listen. Helped along by Jared's notes, I really got into it and found myself listening to the CD several times!! I thought it was a great idea to listen to the 4 promenades one after another. In my feeble thinking, these kind of link the whole set together - and somehow the "gates" piece at the end acts as a very good bookend to it. Each of the promenades/paintings could stand on their own - essentially not a duff track on it!

Favourites so far:

1st promenade
cattle
tuilleries
catacombs/dead
great gate

The fade out of the cattle is just fantastic, plus the drama/dynamics in the great gate - you gotta love that bell at the end!!

*********************
Now, prompted by the comments back up the thread, I've managed to lay hands on the Richter Sofia concert and will be giving this a listen today (playing as I type) and over the next few days. There's also a MFSL disc with a full arrangement on its way to me as well - at least it will be an "audiophile" recording if nothing else!!


Fran

Good post Fran; great to see you getting the reward for the bit of effort that you are putting in on this one. As I said before, some pieces you get, others you don't!

[fergus]

^^ Jared, I too have enjoyed reading the thread. I am afraid I have been unable to adequately contribute - to this thread or the forum as a whole - as I am writing an essay in my spare time.
I will also add though that Pictures was one of the pieces I 'learnt' CM through and as a consequence I played the thing to death (orchestral version). Regrettably this means, essay or no essay, I would find it hard to commit as vehemently as I may have done 4-5 years ago...

That said, I have purchased the Brendel-Previn disc you signposted and I will listen to it with this thread open as a companion before the month is out...

Hard at work eh? Delighted to hear it Darren LOL!!

[fergus]

thanks to everyone for their kind words... remember, we are all learning together... myself included!

Keep it up mate, you are playing a blinder!

[Jared]

Painting 10: ‘The Hut on Fowl’s Legs [Baba Yaga]’:

Key: C minor; Tempo: "Allegro con brio, feroce" and "Andante mosso" [3.20]





Stasov’s comment concerning this curiosity is: "Hartmann's drawing depicted a clock in the form of Baba-Yagá's hut on fowl's legs. Mussorgsky added the witch's flight in a mortar."

Baba Yaga is an evil, cannibalistic witch with long red braids of hair, from Russian folk mythology. The devilishly sinister music depicts the dark, terrible secrets of her home, a revolving 'hut on chicken's legs', which she uses to trap victims lost in the woods. She is able to fly around in a magical mortar (as in pestle & mortar); from which she is able to peer over the rim to spy her victims and with which she uses to grind their bones.

The music is characterised by two swift, strident ‘Allegro’ scherzo sections, bisected with a slower middle ‘Andante’ section, once more in an A-B-A ternary pattern, before a final coda leads without a break into the grandeur of the final painting. Mussorgsky’s initial ‘Allegro’ is meant to depict the sound of the mortar in wild flight, followed by the ‘Andante’ section, portraying her stalking through the forest in her hut on fowl’s legs.

In an acknowledgement of Hartmann’s design, the bells of the clock may be heard, followed by frantic running sounds of the final ‘Allegro’, reminiscent of those in ‘Gnomus’, although with an even more frenzied and darker accent, as Baba Yaga locates and chases after another poor victim to their certain doom. During the accelerated ‘Coda’ passage, she flies back into the air, coming to a dead halt, before the Great Gates.

My listen: The opening bars are both ominous and decisive as we are introduced to Baba Yaga roaming above the Russian forests in her mortar, seeking her prey. The initial lower register notes are suggestive of her furtively prowling with a terrible momentum, underlined by the discordant, staccato, higher notes which are introduced at 0.19, which add considerably to the air of evil. The opening part of the ternary section gradually builds in tempo until the high notes cascade downwards at 0.54, as she alights from her mortar to prowl the forest in her hut. The softer, andante section from 1.08 introduces the ‘cat & mouse’ of hunter and hunted, the trembling lower keys highlighting the emotional tension, whilst the randomly interspersed higher 1-2 notes are suggestive of the clock which Hartmann made in the shape of the hut. Having spied her prey (the return to the strident introductory notes at 2.20), the terrifying, blood-curdling chase is on in earnest throughout the final allegro as volume and momentum build into the final, ascending bars of the coda, signifying her taking off once more, in her mortar.

[Jared]

Jared, your notes are just fantastic. I really appreciate the time and effort you have put into this. Like I suspect what others have done here, I copied the text into one doc so I could use it as a guide while I listened.

Fran

Well, as I've said before Fran, it's thanks to you that we're all able to get online and have this discussion in the first place.

It's not surprising that you've found the 'Promenade' sections most familiar; the theme has been used for inspiration quite a lot in other musical genres over the past 40 years, especially in Jazz, Blues, Rock & Pop, which if Mussorgsky was alive today, would find to be quite a compliment. I don't know whether you've ever heard this electric guitar version by Trevor Rabin, which he recorded for the 90125 demos whilst with 'Yes', but if not, I'm sure will bring a smile to your face:



I'd say that one of my reasons for choosing Pictures was because like many, it was one of the very first pieces of Classical Music I listened to and was able to identify with, at a time when my listening was predominantly progressive rock. Not only has its influence been long lasting, but I personally think it hangs together quite well as a 'concept' of walking around a gallery and viewing different pictures. The idea that each miniature can sound stylistically so very different, and yet express so effectively the contrasting images he was viewing, is something which still appeals, all these years on.

Fergus was saying that your tastes in music are quite eclectic, so after the month is out, you might be interested in visiting different sections of this music in different styles... it seems that everything from brass band to glass harp has been employed! At any rate, when you've done some further listening, we'll all like to hear your thoughts and impressions on the music at hand... :-)