MODEST MUSSORGSKY: PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
Nikolaus Lahusen
Price: £13.98 inc. VAT (£11.90 ex. VAT)
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Release Date: 20-10-2005
Label: Celestial Harmonies
Catalog Number: 13248-2
Barcode: 13711324822
Musical Style: Classical
Track Listing:
| Disc 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Promenade Allegro giusto, nel modo russico, senza allegrezza, ma poco sostenuto; Modest Mussorgsky [01:21] | 11 | Promenade 5 Allegro giusto, nel modo russico, poco sostenuto; Modest Mussorgsky [01:24] |
| 2 | Gnomus Sempre vivo; Modest Mussorgsky [02:45] | 12 | Limoges Le marche (La grande nouvelle / The Market (The big news) Allegretto vivo, sempre scherzando; Modest Mussorgsky [01:34] |
| 3 | Promenade 2 / Intermezzo Moderato commodo assai e con delicatezza; Modest Mussorgsky [00:56] | 13 | Catacombae (Sepulcrum romanum) Largo - attaca Con mortuis in lingua mortua / With the dead in a dead language Andante non troppo, con lamento; Modest Mussorgsky [03:12] |
| 4 | Il vecchio castello / The old castle Andantino molto cantabile e con dolore; Modest Mussorgsky [04:44] | 14 | Izbushka na kurikh nozhkakh (Baba-Yaga) / The Hut on Hen:s Leg (Baba-Yaga) Allegro con brio, feroce; Modest Mussorgsky [03:44] |
| 5 | Promenade 3 Moderato non tanto, pesamente; Modest Mussorgsky [00:34] | 15 | Bogatyrskie vorota (vo stol:nom gorode vo Kieve) / The Knight:s gate (in the ancient capital, Kiev) Allegro alla breve. Maestoso. Con grandezza; Modest Mussorgsky [05:13] |
| 6 | Tuileries (Dispute d:enfants après jeux) / Dispute between children at play Allegro non troppo, capriccioso; Modest Mussorgsky [01:08] | 16 | Une Larme (A Tear) (1880); Modest Mussorgsky [04:03] |
| 7 | Bydlo / Cattle Sempre moderato, pesante; Modest Mussorgsky [03:39] | 17 | Meditation [Album Leaf] (1880); Modest Mussorgsky [04:31] |
| 8 | Promenade 4 Tranquillo; Modest Mussorgsky [00:59] | 18 | Intermezzo In Modo Classico (1860); Modest Mussorgsky [07:06] |
| 9 | Balet nevylupivshikhsva ptentsov / Ballet of the unhatched chicks Scherzino vivo, leggiero; Modest Mussorgsky [01:20] | 19 | Hopak [From Sorochintsy Fair]; Modest Mussorgsky [01:54] |
| 10 | Samuel Goldenburg und Schmuyle Andante, Grave-energico; Modest Mussorgsky [02:22] | 20 | (St John:s) Night On The Bare Mountain (1867) [arr. Konstantin Cernov]; Modest Mussorgsky [13:31] |
Description:
Beauty is found in Life. Reality stands above Art. This idea, proposed by Nikolai Chernyshevsky in his Æesthetic Relations of Art to Reality (1855), became a manifesto of sorts in the artistic circles of Czarist Russia in the second half of the 19th century. Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881) was most enthusiastc in adopting the precepts of Chernyshevsky. Most of his works - and the piano pieces especially - are descriptions of moments and situations from everyday life.
Recorded at Radio Bremen’s concert hall, as a co-production between Celestial Harmonies and Radio Bremen, this is the last recording by Nikolaus Lahusen prior to his untimely death on May 15, 2005, at the age of 44. It features a Hamburg Steinway piano that he had selected for himself and had shipped to Radio Bremen’s concert hall.
In the beginning of the 1870s Mussorgsky had gotten to know the painter and architect Viktor Hartmann. But Hartmann, who was not yet 40, died in 1873 from heart disease, and Mussorgksy was devastated. The influential art critic and essayist, Vladimir Stassov, initiated a memorial exhibition where 400 of Hartmann’s works were shown. This exhibition inspired Mussorgsky to write a suite for solo piano, with each movement based on Hartmann’s paintings.
Pictures At An Exhibition has inspired many composers and arrangers to orchestrate the suite; and for many listeners around the world, accustomed to Maurice Ravel’s famous orchestral version, the idea that Pictures At An Exhibition was originally a piano work will come as a surprise. Leopold Stokowski and Vladimir Ashkenazy have also clothed the work in full orchestral garb, and numerous arrangements for brass choir, organs, guitars and synthesizers exist, too. But the original piano version still has its own fascination, and arguably allows more room for the listener’s own interpretation.
Whereas Pictures At An Exhibition is a piano work that became successful in a variety of orchestral versions, the reverse is true for St. John’s Night on the Bare Mountain which was originally an orchestral piece. Lahusen plays here the piano version by Konstantin Cernov.
Biography:
Nikolaus Lahusen was born in Bremen in 1960 and grew up in Mexico. His artistic development was supported by Edith Picht-Axenfeld, Christoph Eschenbach and Bruno Leonardo Gelber. Counted among the leading pianists of his generation, Lahusen has given concerts worldwide and has appeared in important concert halls (Philharmonie in Munich, Musikhalle in Hamburg, Beethovenhalle in Bonn, etc.) and with leading orchestras (European Community Chamber Orchestra, Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Nacional de Argentina, etc.). For Celestial Harmonies, he has previously recorded Orff-Schulwerk, Volume 3: Piano Music , The Complete Works of M.K. Ciurlionis, Vols. 1-3, Franz Schubert Sonata B Flat Major D. 960, 3 Klavierstücke D. 946 and Franz Schubert Sonata D Major D. 850, 34 Valses Sentimentales D. 779.
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