Few Russian composers
are better known in the western world
than Modest Mussorgsky. He was the firebrand
of the Mighty Five, the great Russian
composers of their day. He was held
as the greatest of his generation, although
his disordered life and premature death
resulted in a somewhat unconventional
musical legacy. His greatest works were
often complete only in piano reduction
or incomplete, roughly-hewn parts, and
it was therefore fell to others to orchestrate
and complete his music, as well as to
preserve his legacy. Thus it is often
the case that, when selecting recordings
of Mussorgsky’s work, it is important
to know who orchestrated the work as
each individual piece can sound quite
different.
This disc contains
three of the most well known of Mussorgsky’s
pieces, arranged by some of the most
familiar names of Romantic and early
Modern music. The earliest of these
orchestrations was done by Rimsky-Korsakov.
While Mussorgsky actually finished Khovanshchina,
this is the version which is most well
known. Rimsky-Korsakov took the original
work and made it both smoother and more
conventional, solidifying it in places
but removing some of the primitive strength
in the process. This particular performance
is certainly well executed, if very
short. It is a prelude only, both in
its original conception as a ‘foreword’
to Mussorgsky’s first opera and in its
use on this compilation, and serves
nicely in this capacity.
In his songs, Mussorgsky
developed a rather idiosyncratic harmonic
style where he would incorporate traditional
sounds in many unorthodox ways. Songs
and Dances of Death, completed in
1875, is certainly no exception to this.
Shostakovich did much to preserve the
unorthodox chord structures and eccentric
harmonic syntax that result in the mysterious,
obscure feel of this work. The performance
itself is brooding and moody, which
is in character with the texts that
often employ visages of Death and the
barren snowscapes. Sergei Leiferkus,
the baritone employed here, has a rich,
sonorous voice that suits the work very
well. His instrument is neither overly
bright, which would have been horribly
out of character to the music, nor overly
dark, which would have made the texts
muddy and made it difficult to discern
him from the wind instruments.
As far as the Pictures
at an Exhibition presented here,
this is certainly the best known of
arrangements. The work was written for
one of Mussorgsky’s closets friends,
Victor Hartmann, an architect and painter
who died suddenly at the age of 39.
In 1874 an exhibition was organized
to honor Hartmann, and Mussorgsky wrote
the piano suite to sonically describe
ten of Hartmann’s images, as well as
the "Promenade" theme which
takes the "viewer" from one
"picture" to the next. For
instance "The Ballet of the Unhatched
Chicks" was a costume design, "Baba
Yaga’s Hut" was an illustration
of a Russian folk tale with a hut on
giant chicken legs, "The Gnome"
was a design for a toy nutcracker, and
"The Great Gate of Kiev" was
a design of a gate that was never built.
Ravel’s orchestration,
which achieved the frenzy, humor, and
grandeur that the work seemed to imply
even in its piano reduction, is deservedly
the most well known. Every movement
seems to ingeniously use the orchestra
to duplicate and augment Mussorgsky’s
original, rising from the simple trumpet
solo at the beginning to the grand and
glorious finale at the doorstep of the
tragically non-existent gate just outside
Kiev.
The realization of
this work by the Royal Philharmonic,
conducted by Yuri Temirkanov, is outstanding.
Temirkanov has been one of the leading
conductors of Russian music throughout
the 20th century, appearing often with
several orchestras in America, Britain,
and as the conductor of the Leningrad
(later St. Petersburg) Philharmonic
Orchestra. His familiarity with the
work shines through, with each of the
movements being given a distinct metric
fluidity or rigidity suitable to the
dynamic of the piece. The Royal Philharmonic
is, as usual, in fine form.
There is little to
criticise on this disc. The only essential,
non-opera work by Mussorgsky missing
here is the Rimsky-Korsakov orchestration
of "The Night on Bare Mountain",
which many listeners would know from
the movie Fantasia. As a performance,
this is among the better selections
one could make. The conductor is rightly
renowned for his work with this specific
type of music, and the symphony is recognized
as being among the best in the world
for good reason. Even the engineering
is good, with the voice on Songs and
Dances of Death coming through brilliantly,
unmuddled by the wind instruments or
percussion which can blur a voice when
the work is done incorrectly. Should
a listener be a fan of Russian music,
or have need of a primer for Mussorgsky’s
work, this would be a wonderful addition
to their collection.
Patrick Gary
Sergi Leiferkus, baritone 