A generous release
from Virgin Classics catalogues of previously
released piano works by Mussorgsky and
Tchaikovsky. It is played by the distinguished
Russian pianist, conductor and composer
Mikhail Pletnev.
In 1990 Pletnev founded
the Russian National Orchestra, the
first independent orchestra in Russia’s
history. Even with the endorsement of
Mikhail Gorbachev, the then President
of the Soviet Union, the risks were
enormous. It was Pletnev’s reputation
and commitment that made his dream a
reality and a tremendous success. He
is one of that group of ultra-talented
virtuoso solo performers that are equally
at home as eminent conductors and he
deserves to be placed alongside luminaries
such as Solti, Previn, Barenboim, Rostropovich,
Bernstein and Ashkenazy. The
versatile Pletnev is also active in
the field of composition, although this
side of his talents receives a lower
profile. Pletnev’s compositions include
a Classical Symphony, Triptych for
Symphony Orchestra, Fantasy on Kazakh
Themes, Capriccio for Piano and
Orchestra and piano transcriptions
of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite
and, as performed on this release, The
Sleeping Beauty.
After only a couple
of minutes listening to Mussorgsky’s
Pictures at an Exhibition (1874)
it is clear that this is undoubtedly
the major work on this release. It is
difficult not to be struck by the extraordinary
and special combination of a highly
gifted pianist and the talent of Modest
Mussorgsky. In addition, Pletnev makes
a highly respectable case for the quality
of some of Tchaikovsky piano works.
Clearly not in the same league as Mussorgsky’s
Pictures at an Exhibition, they
are displayed as more than just trivial
piano scores.
Mussorgsky wrote the
piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition
in 1874, inspired following visiting
a posthumous exhibition of four hundred
or so paintings and drawings by his
good-friend Victor Hartmann, in St.
Petersburg. A painter, water-colourist,
stage designer and architect, Hartman
had died at the early age of 39. Devastated
by this premature death a grieving Mussorgsky
wrote to his friend Stassov,
"This is how
the wise usually console us blockheads,
in such cases; 'He is no more, but what
he has done lives and will live'…Away
with such wisdom! When 'he' has not
lived in vain, but has created - one
must be a rascal to revel in the comforting
thought that 'he' can create no more.
No, one cannot and must not be comforted,
there can be and must be no consolation
- it is a rotten morality!"
Viewing Hartmann’s
artwork stimulated Mussorgsky greatly.
It is likely that composing the Pictures
at an Exhibition as a tribute to
Hartmann’s art provided him with an
element of catharsis. Mussorgsky wrote,
"Ideas, melodies
come to me of their own accord, like
the roast pigeons in the story - I gorge
and gorge and overeat myself. I can
hardly hardly manage to put it down
on paper fast enough."
Although there is some
confusion as to the exact number in
the reference books, it is usually stated
that Mussorgsky selected ten or eleven
of Hartmann’s art-works to transform
into musical delineation. In the creation
of the piano suite Pictures at an
Exhibition Mussorgsky attempted
to capture the essence of each picture
with vivid tonal realism and an astonishing
aptitude for revealing Hartmann’s most
subtle artistic creation. Of Mussorgsky’s
musical depictions of Hartmann’s pictures,
only three art-works were actually contained
in the St. Petersburg exhibition. The
remainder were part of Mussorgsky’s
private collection or those he had seen
elsewhere. Hartmann had not achieved
a particularly high reputation as an
artist and suffered considerable neglect
shortly after his death. Consequently
many of Hartmann’s art-works that so
inspired Mussorgsky are now missing
or perhaps destroyed. It is often stated
that Victor Hartmann’s name would have
been banished into obscurity had Mussorgsky
not championed his cause with the suite
which was not published until five years
after Mussorgsky’s death.
Throughout the essential
‘Russianness’ of the piano suite, Mussorgsky
provided a recurring linking theme,
that he called a promenade. It
represents the visitor strolling from
one group of pictures to another and
stopping in admiration and contemplation.
The adroit promenade theme, in
a greatly modified form, constitutes
the latter half of the scene entitled
Catacombs.
Pictures at an Exhibition
has proved exceptionally popular in
orchestral transcriptions. I know of
various orchestrations of all or parts
of the score. Many of these were, I
believe, created from Rimsky-Korsakov's
edited version of the piano part, which
for some time was the only one available.
A couple of versions claim to have been
played from copies of Mussorgsky’s own
handwritten manuscript. It may interest
readers that there are orchestrations
of various magnitudes from the following:
Michail Touchmalov, Sergi Gorchakov,
Leopold Stokowski, John Boyd, Julian
Hu, Hans Peter Gmur, Giuseppe Becce,
Leonardi Leonidas, Henk de Vlieger,
Daniel Powers, Walter Goehr, the Isao
Tomita orchestration for synthesizer,
Granville Bantock, Carl Simpson, Geert
van Keulen, the Elgar Howarth setting
for brass ensemble, Leo Funtek, Byrwec
Ellison, the Kazuhito Yamashita transcription
for solo guitar, Douglas Gamley, Lawrence
Leonard, Emile Naoumoff, the Emerson
Lake & Palmer rock band transcription,
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Lucian Cailliet
and Henry Wood. By far the most famous
of all the orchestrations is that from
Ravel, that is now established as a
core part of the orchestral repertoire
and has become a celebrated orchestral
showpiece.
The piano version of
Pictures of an Exhibition does
however have some detractors. In her
book musicologist Kathleen Dale Ninetieth-Century
Piano Music (London, 1953) has stated,
"It taxes the
performer’s skill without compensating
him by beauty or ingenuity in the keyboard
writing. The orchestral version made
by Ravel in 1922 brings out all the
variations in tone-colour that the original
version lacks, and the work is now generally
performed in this more effective form."
There are many good
judges who would contest Kathleen Dale’s
assertion thanks mainly to several excellent
recorded accounts of the piano score
that have subsequently been made widely
available from top class soloists namely:
Vladimir Horowitz, Sviatoslav Richter,
Barry Douglas and Mikhail Pletnev.
The present modern
digital release is a must-have first
choice recommendation. Pletnev’s imaginative
and eminently colourful interpretations
of Mussorgsky’s tableaux are highly
convincing with a peerless textural
variety and that special quality of
a truly great performer.
I have not heard the
tableau The Old Castle (CD 1,
track 4) performed as convincingly and
it is easy to hear the troubadour singing
outside the mediaeval castle. I was
especially impressed with Pletnev’s
playing of Mussorgsky’s inspired droning
piano bass. In the Tuileries
tableau (CD 1, track 6) there are children
playing in the famous Parisian gardens.
In an otherwise acceptable interpretation
Pletnev finds it difficult to hold his
enthusiasm in check and plays swifter
than the markings. The tableau The
ballet of the chicks in their shells
(CD 1, track 9) that contains such
a preponderance of trills and skittish
humour, sees Pletnev at his most uninhibited
and expressive. With Pletnev’s brilliant
keyboard work In the Limoges marketplace
tableau, I can effortlessly visualise
the local women talking, gesticulating
and chattering. Here the soloist is
at his most insightful and poetic (CD
1, track 11). The final tableau The
great gate at Kiev (CD 1, track
15), makes a terrific impact. Pletnev’s
reading of the image remains powerful
and dramatic yet suitably dignified.
I have had for many
years an affection for the account from
Barry Douglas on vinyl, recorded on
RCA Red Seal digital RL 85931. The studio
recording is from 1986, the same year
that he won the Gold Medal at the 1986
Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition
in Moscow. If I am not mistaken Douglas
played Mussorgky’s Pictures at an
Exhibition at his concert victory.
I’m unsure if Douglas’s account
has been made available on CD, but it
is worth searching out for its exhilaration
and eloquence of phrasing. The live
1958 Sofia recital from Sviatoslav Richter,
on mono Philips 464 734-2, contains
several episodes of poetry and high
drama. The Richter account, one of the
Philips label’s ‘50 Great Recordings’,
has been successfully cleaned up and
is certainly worthy of consideration.
Another recording that will not disappoint
is the thrilling, even earlier, live
1951 performance, from Carnegie Hall
by Vladimir Horowitz on mono RCA 74321
84594-2.
Tchaikovsky was said
to be an excellent pianist, although
he had little ambition and probably
not the talent to pursue a solo performing
career; he kept up his piano-playing
throughout his career for his own satisfaction.
Nevertheless Tchaikovsky composed over
a hundred solo piano works, many of
which were written to order and are
often said to display little inspiration
and inventiveness. Consequently many
of them are ignored and often considered
lightweight of a parlour type with occasional
lapses into poor taste. On the evidence
of these superbly performed accounts,
Tchaikovsky’s piano works, which could
never be described as distinguished,
deserve more than the occasional outing.
Mikhail Pletnev has
arranged eleven pieces from Tchaikovsky’s
outstandingly successful ballet The
Sleeping Beauty of 1889. The ballet’s
initial reception in 1890 was a cool
one, but it is now considered one of
the finest achievements in Russian classical
ballet. Although we are not told, Pletnev
probably utilised Tchaikovsky’s own
piano reduction of the score for these
arrangements. Before publication of
the ballet score the composer’s piano
reduction was for some years the only
source for portions of the score.
In the movement The
silver fairy (CD 1, track 20), Pletnev’s
lightness of touch and rhythm certainly
keeps the feet tapping. Equally finely
performed is the light and jaunty gavotte
(CD 1, track 22). My favourite of
all the movements is the Adagio
(CD 1, track 22), where Pletnev extracts
every ounce of passion and languor from
the emotional writing.
In 1873, Tchaikovsky
dedicated his set of Six Piano Pieces,
Op. 21 to the virtuoso pianist Anton
Rubinstein. Composed on a single theme,
the booklet notes explain that the works
were conceived from the start as a suite,
in which he binds together with
a real thematic and tonal unity. The
Piano Pieces are delightful and
appealing works of a variable quality.
I especially enjoyed Pletnev’s playing
in the third piece, the elegant Chopinesque
Impromptu (CD 2, track 3). The
following piece, the Funeral march
(CD 2, track 4), provides a contrast
to the rest of the set and allows Pletnev
to scale some impressive heights between
passion and tenderness.
The Seasons, Op.
37b are a collection of twelve short
pieces and should be more accurately
described as the ‘months of the year’.
Completed in 1876, the score was an
1875 commission by the publication entitled
‘The Novelist’, for twelve successive
issues, each illustrating a month of
the year. It is questionable whether
Tchaikovsky took the commission too
seriously, as his manservant was primed
to jog the composer’s memory two or
three days before each commission was
due. Although the barcarolle (June)
and the troika (November) have
become popular, biographer Michel Hoffman
has stated that: "the artistic
value of the whole remains at a mere
‘calendar art’ level."
Pletnev’s interpretations
of The Seasons are most convincing,
making this collection at times sound
as if it should be in every concert
pianist’s repertoire. The well known
barcarolle that depicts June
(CD 2, track 12) is winningly played
with utmost style and control. I particularly
enjoyed the haunting loveliness of the
playing in the tenth piece, Autumn
song representing October (CD 2,
track 16), which effortlessly suggests
the end of summer warmth to the falling
of autumn leaves.
This is all is well
recorded with a natural and pleasing
sound. Very brief but interesting and
informative booklet notes have been
provided. Quite astonishing piano playing
by the great Mikhail Pletnev. This Virgin
Classics double CD set should be in
any serious collection of piano music.
Michael Cookson
Mikhail Pletnev (piano) 
