MUSSORGSKY, M.P.: Great Composers in Words and Music

Format:

Sound recording

Author/Creator:

Caddy, Davinia, Author.

Contributor:

Mussorgsky, Modest Petrovich, Composer.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, Lyricist.

Strugovshchikov, Aleksandr, Lyricist.

Glinka, Mikhail Ivanovich, Composer.

Gogol, Nikolai, Lyricist.

Golenishchev-Kutuzov, Arseny, Lyricist.

Denisov, Edison, Arranger.

Naxos Digital Services US

Series:

Naxos Spoken Word Library

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Classical Music.

Local Subjects:

Classical Music.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Hong Kong : Naxos Digital Services US Incorporated 2023

System Details:

Mode of access: Available online.

Contents:

Introduction ( 10 sec. )

Pictures at an Exhibition: IV. Bydlo (excerpt) ( 51 sec. ) / Mussorgsky

Recalling his time spent in Berlin in the 1830s, the Russian literary critic Pavel Annenkov declared: "Every Russian newcomer was wryly asked whether he wished to stay in Berlin and..." ( 02 min., 40 sec. )

Kamarinskaya (excerpt) ( 55 sec. ) / Glinka

If Glinka was the fountainhead of Russian music, his offspring - in a musical sense - included Mily Balakirev, César Cui, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Borodin and Modest Mussorgsky... ( 04 min., 24 sec. )

Intermezzo in modo classico (1867 version for piano) (excerpt) ( 01 min., 31 sec. ) / Mussorgsky

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was born on 21 March 1839 into a wealthy, land-owning family in the provincial town of Karevo, situated in the Pskov district in the north-west of Russia... ( 01 min., 49 sec. )

Porte-enseigne Polka (Ensign-Polka) (excerpt) ( 01 min., 08 sec. ) / Mussorgsky

After being commissioned an officer in the elite Preobrazhensky Regiment of the Imperial Guards, Mussorgsky met a group of musicians with whom he would be forever associated: "The Five"... ( 01 min., 55 sec. )

Scherzo in C-Sharp Minor (excerpt) ( 01 min., 14 sec. ) / Mussorgsky

Another personal crisis appears to have occurred a couple of years later, in the summer of 1860, while Mussorgsky was staying at the rural estate of the Shilovskys, a St. Petersburg couple... ( 02 min., 08 sec. )

Pictures at an Exhibition: VIII. Catacombae (Sepulcrum romanum) (excerpt) ( 52 sec. ) / Mussorgsky

Another extract from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, this a movement titled Catacombs... ( 01 min., 49 sec. )

Seminarist (The Seminarist) (excerpt) ( 01 min., 25 sec. ) / Mussorgsky

The following year, 1867, Mussorgsky finished an orchestral project that he seems to have had in mind for several years. This was the now-popular tone-poem Night on Bald Mountain, a work that... ( 01 min., 10 sec. )

St. John's Night on Bald Mountain, "A Night on the Bare Mountain" (original version) (excerpt) ( 46 sec. ) / Mussorgsky

That Mussorgsky never heard his tone-poem in performance is perhaps not surprising, given the work's immediate reception... ( 02 min., 27 sec. )

Zhenit'ba (The Marriage), Act I Scene 1: Vot tak nachnyosh etak (Here is how you start) ( 01 min., 42 sec. ) / Mussorgsky

Despite his bold proclamation of his compositional intentions in Marriage, Mussorgsky would go on to call the opera a mere preparatory exercise: "an experiment in dramatic music in prose"... ( 04 min., 15 sec. )

Boris Godunov, Prologue Scene 1: Introduction (1869 version) (excerpt) ( 01 min., 14 sec. ) / Mussorgsky

A final passage from Boris Godunov furnishes another example of a folk-inspired musical style... ( 01 min., 01 sec. )

Boris Godunov, Act IV Scene 1: Lejtes', lejtes', slëzy gor'ki (Flow, bitter tears) (1869 version) ( 01 min., 58 sec. ) / Mussorgsky

Here at the end of the opera, Mussorgsky paints a sorrowful picture... ( 02 min., 58 sec. )

Khovanshchina, Act I: Introduction (excerpt) ( 02 min., 21 sec. ) / Mussorgsky

At the time Mussorgsky was working on Khovanshchina, Boris finally premiered at the Mariinsky... ( 02 min., 12 sec. )

Pictures at an Exhibition: Promenade ( 01 min., 15 sec. ) / Mussorgsky

In between the seemingly happenstance occurrences of Mussorgsky's Promenade theme are movements that function as personal reminiscences: not the kind of dispassionate musical observations that... ( 45 sec. )

Pictures at an Exhibition: II. Old Castle (excerpt) ( 48 sec. ) / Mussorgsky

Yet, as with Boris Godunov, Pictures at an Exhibition features contrasting styles... ( 34 sec. )

Pictures at an Exhibition: V. Ballet of the Chickens in their Shells ( 01 min., 14 sec. ) / Mussorgsky

1874 was a busy year: besides working on the Pictures suite and Sunless songs, Mussorgsky started another musical project, one that - like the opera Khovanshchina - would also be left unfinished... ( 03 min., 08 sec. )

Pesni i plyaski smerti (Songs and Dances of Death): No. 3. Trepak (arr. E. Denisov for voice and orchestra) (excerpt) ( 01 min., 54 sec. ) / Mussorgsky

Mussorgsky started work on his Songs and Dances of Death in the first half of 1875, but the cycle was not finished until June 1877... ( 02 min., 07 sec. )

Pesnya Mefistofelya v pogrebke Auerbakha (Mephistopheles's Song in Auerbach's Cellar), "Song of the Flea" (excerpt) ( 01 min. ) / Mussorgsky

Following Mussorgsky's dismissal from government service on 13 January 1880, the composer made further appearances as Leonova's accompanist... ( 05 minutes, 48 sec. )

Pictures at an Exhibition: X. The Great Gate at Kiev (excerpt) ( 02 minches, 07 sec. ) / Mussorgsky

Participant:

Boulton, Nicholas, Reader -- Várjon, Dénes, Artist -- Bramall, Anthony, Conductor -- Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra -- Scinardo, Giacomo, Artist -- Svetlov, Mikhail, Artist -- Dokovska, Pavlina, Artist -- Kitayenko, Dmitri, Conductor -- Cologne Gürzenich Orchestra, Orchestra -- Kovalev, Alexey, Conductor -- USSR State Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra -- Demyanov, Daniel, Artist -- Sofia National Opera Orchestra, Orchestra -- Chudovsky, Konstantin, Conductor -- Damyanov, Hrisimir, Artist -- Margaritov, Atanas, Conductor -- Sulimsky, Vladislav, Artist -- Mussorgsky, Modest Petrovich, Composer -- Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, Lyricist -- Strugovshchikov, Aleksandr, Lyricist -- Glinka, Mikhail Ivanovich, Composer -- Gogol, Nikolai, Lyricist -- Golenishchev-Kutuzov, Arseny, Lyricist -- Denisov, Edison, Arranger -- Caddy, Davinia, Author

Notes:

Naxos Digital Services electronic collection.

Streaming audio.

Publisher Number:

747313836574

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.