Building a Collection #33: Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition

With recommended recordings

Building a Collection #33

Pictures at an Exhibition (original piano and orchestration by Ravel)

By Modest Mussorgsky

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“Art is not an end in itself, but a means of addressing humanity.” 

-Modest Mussorgsky

Welcome back to the Building a Collection series.  We have reached #33 on the list, and I sincerely hope you are enjoying the journey as much as I am.  If you are a new reader, I want to welcome you and thank you for spending your time here.  If you are a returning reader, I cannot thank you enough for your readership and your interest in the topic of classical music.  Many of you have also reached out with comments, suggestions, and feedback which is always welcomed and appreciated.  

Sitting at #33 is Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, which was originally written for piano, and then later was transcribed for orchestra by many people but most famously by French composer Maurice Ravel.  The Ravel version of Pictures at an Exhibition accounts for the vast majority of orchestra recordings of the piece, although there are other worthy transcriptions (most notably the one by Leopold Stokowski).  Furthermore, there are many recordings of the original work for piano as well, and if you are like me, hopefully you enjoy this kaleidoscopic work in both formats.    

Modest Mussorgsky

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was born in 1839 in Karevo, Pskov, Russia and died in 1881 in St. Petersburg, Russia.  A member of the “five”, a group of Russian composers that also included Rimsky-Korsakov, Cui, Balakirev, and Borodin, Mussorgsky is known for being an innovator in the development of Romantic music with a strong Russian nationalist flavor.  Mussorgsky was really only a part-time composer, also working as a public servant for most of his life.  An inveterate alcoholic, Mussorgsky alienated most of his friends and his music had little influence on other composers due to his relatively small body of work.  Even so, Mussorgsky remains an important figure in nineteenth century Russian music.

Born to a wealthy land-owning family, Mussorgsky was instructed on the piano by his mother.  He showed a lot of talent, but entered military school as a cadet.  While there, he joined a choir and discovered Russian sacred choral music, which greatly influenced him.

Upon graduation in 1856, he entered the Russian Imperial Guard.  However, music kept calling and he began socializing with composers Dargomizhsky and Cui, then later Balakirev.  He began composition lessons with Balakirev shortly thereafter, and began to write some short compositions for piano and voice.  In 1858 he gave up his military career with the goal of composing full-time.  This was interrupted by his need to care for his family estate, but since the family fortunes had declined severely, he was forced to go back to work in civil service jobs that paid little.  He had befriended other musicians and artists, and actually lived in a sort of commune.  During this time he became interested in musical “realism”, using this style for many of his compositions.  Although Mussorgsky typically had trouble finishing his works, he had gained enough of a reputation by the 1860s that he became one of the “mighty handful” of Russian composers.  

It seems to be the case that Mussorgsky had a high opinion of his ability, but this was not matched by his work ethic and output.  Further hampering his production was his alcoholism, which had a significantly detrimental impact on his work and relationships.  The peak of his artistic output was when he finished his great masterpiece, the opera Boris Godunov.  The opera was set using the Russian language, and its premiere in 1874 met with great success.  The same year Mussorgsky composed his famous suite for piano Pictures at an Exhibition with the intention of eventually orchestrating it (which he never did).  Other Mussorgsky compositions have achieved success as well, such as the symphonic poem Night on Bald Mountain (used in the 1940 Disney film Fantasia), Songs & Dances of Death, and the unfinished opera Khovanshchina.

Unfortunately, Mussorgsky’s heavy drinking took a toll on his physical and mental faculties, and he was dismissed from his government job in 1880.  After that his financial state suffered, and even with the support of a few remaining friends, his mental state decayed quickly.  Mussorgsky died in 1881, leaving many partially composed works for others to sort through and complete.

Some critics and contemporaries of Mussorgsky were harsh in their assessments of his work.  Tchaikovsky wrote:

 “Mussorgsky you very rightly call a hopeless case. In talent he is perhaps superior to all the [other members of The Five], but his nature is narrow-minded, devoid of any urge towards self-perfection, blindly believing in the ridiculous theories of his circle and in his own genius. In addition, he has a certain base side to his nature which likes coarseness, uncouthness, roughness. He flaunts his illiteracy, takes pride in his ignorance, mucks along anyhow, blindly believing in the infallibility of his genius. Yet he has flashes of talent which are, moreover, not devoid of originality.”  

Rimsky-Korsakov added that Mussorgsky’s music included:

“...absurd, disconnected harmony, ugly part-writing, sometimes strikingly illogical modulation, sometimes a depressing lack of it, unsuccessful scoring of orchestral things...what was needed at the moment was an edition for performance, for practical artistic aims, for familiarization with his enormous talent, not for the study of his personality and artistic transgressions.”

While sometimes viewed as an eccentric with little mainstream appeal, after the European premiere of Boris Godunov in 1908, opinions began to change.   Gerald Abraham, a musicologist, and an authority on Mussorgsky wrote: 

"As a musical translator of words and all that can be expressed in words, of psychological states, and even physical movement, he is unsurpassed; as an absolute musician he was hopelessly limited, with remarkably little ability to construct pure music or even a purely musical texture."  

There remains a fascination with Mussorgsky and at least an acknowledgement of an immense talent somewhat wasted by circumstances and choices.

Pictures at an Exhibition

Mussorgsky composed the piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition in the summer of 1874.  The story goes that Mussorgsky’s friend Viktor Hartmann, an artist and architect, died in 1873 and as a memorial to the artist a retrospective of his some 400 drawings and watercolors was arranged.  After viewing Hartmann’s renderings, and being deeply moved by them, Mussorgsky began working on a piano suite.  This would be Pictures at an Exhibition, which would also be one of the few works Mussorgsky actually completed.  Rimsky-Korsakov edited the work for publication in 1886, though with fewer changes that Rimsky made to other Mussorgsky works.  There is some evidence that Mussorgsky had intended to orchestrate the suite himself, but the first attempt to do so was by Mikhail Tushmalov in 1891.  Since that time, there have been more than a dozen other transcriptions of the work, but none that reach the quality of the one by Maurice Ravel.  

Ravel’s orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition was done in 1922 for the conductor Serge Koussevitzky, who led the world premiere in Paris in 1923, the US premiere with his own Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1926, and the first recording of the work in 1930.  Ravel was a natural choice to orchestrate the work as France’s greatest living composer (although it allegedly cost Koussevitzky 10,000 francs to commission it).  Ravel’s scoring includes winds, alto saxophone, two harps, and lots of percussion. 

The programmatic Pictures at an Exhibition includes music depicting specific works of art as you might see in an art gallery, and in between each is a “promenade” walk recurring theme in essence meant to portray the composer as he progresses to and from each picture or painting.  The promenades vary in tempo and mood, and the actual pictures evoke varying feelings and moods, which is reflected in the music.  The movements are as follows:

Promenade

1. The Gnome - where a nutcracker is drawn in the shape of a gnome, the tempo is lively.

Promenade (2nd)

2. The Old Castle - melancholy, slower, darker, with an evocative melody taken up by the alto saxophone.

Promenade (3rd)

3. Tuileries (Children's Quarrel after Games) - depicting the famous Parisian garden, with the woodwinds mimicking the dispute of children after play.

4. Bydlo - we hear the solo tuba moving along slowly depicting Hartmann’s sketch of a Polish ox-cart on large wheels.

Promenade (4th)

5. Ballet of Unhatched Chicks - in the style of a short scherzo, it illustrates children’s costumes with legs sticking out of the bottom.

6. "Samuel" Goldenberg and "Schmuÿle" - the title given to a pair of sketches called “Two Polish Jews, one rich, one poor.”  Goldenberg pontificates, and meanwhile the solo trumpet plays in triplets.  

Promenade (5th)

7. Limoges. The Market (The Great News) - another short scherzo in which women at the market gossip and argue.

8. Catacombs (Roman Tomb) – With the Dead in a Dead Language - we are taken to the catacombs beneath Paris, where Hartmann sketched himself and two companions.  It continues with “cum mortuis in lingua morta” (with the dead in a dead language) and “skulls begin to glow dimly from within.”  If you have ever been to the catacombs in Paris, this will make sense in a most creepy way.

9. The Hut on Fowl's Legs (Baba Yaga) - a clock shaped as the witch Baba Yaga’s hut, from which she flies riding a mortar, used to mash human bones into paste.  Percussion, strings, and brass combine to form a sort of diabolical march.

10. The Bogatyr Gates (In the Capital in Kiev) also known as The Great Gate of Kiev - the previous hut on fowl’s legs progresses without pause directly into the final Great Gate of Kiev.  On one side is a bell tower, and in the middle a cupola shaped like an old Bogatyr helmet.  Processional music includes a huge expansion of the Promenade theme, leading to the one of the largest climaxes in all of music accentuated by bass drum, tubular bells, and tam-tam.

Of course what is being described above is the orchestral version, but the solo piano version is magnificent in its own right and many virtuoso pianists have given it their best.  While the Ravel orchestration eclipsed the original in popularity, it makes for a tremendous showpiece on piano as well and may speak more directly to some listeners.  But it should be noted that Pictures at an Exhibition has also been arranged for concert band, brass ensemble, organ, jazz ensemble, piano trio, classical guitar, percussion ensemble, metal band, harp, drum and bugle corp, saxophone choir, synthesizer and rock band, and even vocal ensemble.

Recommended Recordings

I. Piano Version

Essential Recording

The great Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter was the preeminent piano interpreter of Pictures at an Exhibition, and recorded it at least six times and none of them sound the same.  However, in performance terms, his live performance from February 1958 in Sofia, Bulgaria tops every other recording by some distance.  Long considered a legend of recorded music, this recital contains absolutely mesmerizing and transcendent playing, especially when it comes to the performance of Pictures.  There is one very large caveat, and that is the limited, distorted, and truly dismal sound which is somewhat difficult to get past, along with the prominent bronchial spasms of the audience.  However, I urge you to try it.  Once you listen for a while, you tend to get used to the sound and if you focus on the superlative performance, I believe you will agree this is the greatest piano performance ever of Pictures at an Exhibition.  There are different remasterings available out there, and a few that improve somewhat on the original source tape limitations, but none that eliminate distortion without impacting the sound of the piano as well.  You can sample different remastered versions with a streaming subscription.  

This performance by Richter is performed so well, you just might forget about the orchestrated version.  This is as close to definitive as a recording gets in my view, as Richter captures the scale, mood, and rhythmic complexities perfectly.  It is a live recording, and as happens with live recordings, there are some wrong notes (I count at least two wrong notes from Richter, but other more expert musicians may hear more).  But the performance has unrivaled electricity and complete mastery of the piece.  There is a power and intensity displayed by Richter, and a personality that just seems intuitively spot on throughout.  It is an all-encompassing performance which never lets up all the way to the end.  Richter finds the tenderness and mystery in The Old Castle and Catacombs, while also bringing to bear stunning majesty and emphasis to The Hut on Fowl’s Legs and The Great Gate of Kiev.  Even the more subtle differences in the several Promenades are brought out expertly.  One of the aspects that makes this such a great performance is Richter’s willingness to take risks with tempo and dynamics, and when he pulls it off, as he does through most of it, we are left in complete awe.  The sonorities, harmonies, and dissonances characteristic of Mussorgsky are played with a naked brashness that feels totally authentic and necessary.  If you can be patient enough with the flawed sound, this recording is very rewarding.

Other recommended recordings of the piano version

In chronological order of recording date:

Vladimir Horowitz in his famous 1951 recording at Carnegie Hall on the RCA/Sony label.  Horowitz was known for this work among many others, and he brings his dazzling technique to this colorful piece.  True to form, Horowitz is stunning in the faster passages and truly delicate and seductive in the more reflective passages.  The sound is acceptable for the age and recording location, and this recording also needs to be in every Pictures collection.

Byron Janis on Mercury Living Presence, a recording from 1961 in clear, up close sound, even if it is a somewhat dry acoustic.  Janis declared, “there has been no greater work for solo piano” and while that may be overstated a bit, this is one of the truly great versions of the piano Pictures.  There is some stupendous showmanship and brio in this reading, and Janis brings new insight into the Promenades, The Old Castle, Catacombs, and The Great Gate of Kiev.

Mikhail Pletnev on Virgin Classics, recorded in 1989, this one is really a close second to Richter.  Pletnev does bring some of his own dynamics and phrasing to his Pictures, but this performance gets to the core of the essential elements in each movement and is extremely well-recorded to boot.  Pletnev uses rubato and tremolo judiciously, and alters his approach to each Promenade and picture.  An indispensable recording.

Nikolai Demidenko on the Helios label (part of Hyperion), recorded in 1997, brings total control and mastery from the renowned Demidenko.  A reading with plenty of drama, technical prowess, and rhythmic drive.  Sound is exemplary.

The brilliant Scottish pianist Steven Osborne recorded Pictures in 2011 for the Hyperion label, and it is easily one of the most searching and satisfying accounts on record.  Osborne knows how to sustain a beautiful line in his tone, but also how to create wonderful effects and colors with phrasing and rhythms.  Osborne never rushes, but lets the music build its own tension.  Restraint in many places is contrasted with sharp accents and almost spooky passages.  There is no lack of power, but neither does Osborne pound the keys.  A terrific account.  

Ukrainian pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk recorded in 2013 on the Piano Classics label.  Brilliant recorded sound capturing one of the most assured and captivating performances of this pictorial journey.  Textures are clear and refined, while fearless bravura is displayed alongside great sensitivity.  Among recent versions in modern sound, this is one of the top choices.

Others to consider:  Kuschnerova (Orfeo, 2000) Abduraimov (Alpha, 2021)

II. Version for Orchestra (Orchestration by Ravel)

Essential Recording

My introduction to the Ravel orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition was an early digital recording by Sir Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  While the Chicago brass make your hair stand on end in that recording, and the result is spectacular, you cannot properly hear the rest of the orchestra and therefore the bombast tends to be too much.  

While I still love the Solti recording, in recent years the one I have returned to most often and which is the most satisfying as a whole is from Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra recorded in 1957 by RCA Victor Living Stereo.  Rightly considered THE benchmark by which all other Pictures at an Exhibition (Ravel) recordings are measured, this recording is one of the best put down by Reiner in his glory years with the CSO.  

First, the sound is simply phenomenal for its age.  Yes, there is some slight background hiss.  But otherwise you would scarcely know this recording is nearly 67 years old.  The overall detail and warmth of the recording is astounding by any measure, and I believe nearly ideal for Pictures.  Yes, the famed Chicago brass show up in full glory, but not at the expense of other instrument sections and the overall sound picture.  The balance is admirable, but the bigger climaxes still have a huge impact.  Earlier incarnations of this recording featured some edgy sound at high levels, but this has been smoothed out in recent editions.

In terms of performance, Reiner’s approach is to bring out all the orchestral color in the varying pictures, making each picture its own masterpiece.  The brass is rich in the opening Promenade, and the saxophone appropriately smoky and somewhat jazz inflected in The Old Castle.  Gnomus is gnarly and somewhat grotesque, as it should be.  Bydlo sounds very much like an old ox-cart wagon, and in Samuel Goldenberg the lower strings are caught magnificently and ominously.  Baba Yaga is sharply rhythmic and pointed, with heavy bass and brass yelping through, and the finale is grand yet spacious.  The brass and cymbals are epic, but not so overpowering as to steal the focus. I particularly enjoy hearing the tam-tam in the final bars.  Reiner was a control freak with his orchestras, but he built the Chicagoans into one of the best orchestras in the world.  

Other recommended recordings of the Ravel orchestration

Rafael Kubelik and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (again) recorded in 1951 with amazing results by Mercury Living Presence.  Kubelik doesn’t dawdle at any point, there is tremendous forward momentum throughout, and at times you feel as though you are sitting among the orchestra, such is the clarity. Not surprisingly with a recording from the early 1950s, there is some background hiss and a bit of distortion in places, but the reading is vibrant and electric and well worth hearing.

Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra recorded Pictures twice, once for Columbia and then later for RCA.  It is the earlier recording for Columbia (now Sony), recorded in 1966, that is the shining star.  The playing of all sections of the orchestra is incredible, the detail is impressive, and Ormandy’s overall vision is transparent yet powerful.

A 32-year old Seiji Ozawa recorded Pictures with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for RCA in 1967, and the recording sounds unbelievable today with recent 24-bit remastering from Sony.  This is not an overblown reading, but one that emphasizes the lithe textures and the musical line from one movement to the next.  There is grandeur and majesty here, but not at the expense of the poetry and lyricism.  Ozawa was at his best in balletic scores, and Pictures has many similarities with ballet scores.  A beautiful recording, though there is some distortion overload in The Great Gate of Kiev.

Russian conductor Igor Markevitch recorded Pictures in 1973 (originally on the Eterna label but available now on several labels) with the East German Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, and I like this recording because it displays Markevitch’s emphasis on rhythmic clarity, detail, and recorded balance.  But also, there is a sort of dark, brooding flavor to this performance which is mysterious and even menacing.  Each picture is evocative and the brass are particularly incisive.  The conclusion is spectacular.   

Italian conductor Riccardo Muti leads the Philadelphia Orchestra in an EMI (now Warner) recording from 1984.  This is a strong, muscular reading with forward brass and outstanding percussion.  The more I listen to this recording, the more I like it.  The sound is excellent in its remastered form taking out some of the early digital glare, and Muti has a directness that I really like.  Muti keeps things moving, and this is overall one of the quickest versions out there.  But there is tremendous brio and energy, which I enjoy.  

Theodore Kuchar and the National Orchestra of Ukraine recorded Pictures in 2001 for the budget label Naxos, but don’t let the budget label fool you.  This is a heavyweight performance, full of passionate playing and rich, detailed sound.  Although it may lack the last ounce of refinement, it is nevertheless a very enjoyable performance and one of my favorites.

Francois-Xavier Roth conducts his fine period instrument orchestra Les Siècles in a 2019 recording on the Harmonia Mundi label.  Roth is one of the most exciting and interesting conductors to emerge in recent years, and this recording shows why.  Although I personally remain unconvinced about the use of period instruments for Mussorgsky, the performance itself pulses with life and is full of character.  You will no doubt hear details you’ve never heard before.  Tuileries, the Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks, and the Hut on Fowl’s Legs benefit most from Roth’s treatment.

Others to consider:  Minnesota Orchestra / Antal Dorati (Mercury, 1959), Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Carlo Maria Giulini (DG, 1977), Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Sir Georg Solti (Decca, 1990).   

Be well, and take care until next time when we will discuss #34 on the list:  W.A. Mozart’s opera Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro).

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Notes:

Brennan, Gerald. Dettmer, Roger. Reel, James. Schrott, Allen. Woodstra, Chris.  All Music Guide to Classical Music, The Definitive Guide.  All Media Guide. Pp. 925-926.  Backbeat Books, San Francisco. 2005.

Brown, David. Mussorgsky: His Life and Works. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0-19-816587-3.

Brown, David, and Gerald E. Abraham. Russian Masters 1: Glinka, Borodin, Balakirev, Musorgsky, Tchaikovsky. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1997. ISBN 978-0-393-31585-1.

Calvocoressi, M.D., Modest Mussorgsky: His Life and Works, London: Rockliff, 1956.

Distler, Jed. Steven Osborne’s Pictures and Visions.  Online at https://www.classicstoday.com/review/steven-osbornes-pictures-and-visions/.

Distler, Jed.  A Triumphant Triumvirate. Online at https://www.classicstoday.com/review/a-triumphant-triumvirate/.

Gabler, Jay. "From 'Bald Mountain' to 'Ave Maria': The hell-to-heaven 'Fantasia' climax". www.classicalmpr.org.

Parrott, Jasper, and Vladimir Ashkenazy. Beyond Frontiers. London: Collins; London: Hamilton; New York: Atheneum, 1984. ISBN 0-00-216373-X (Collins); ISBN 0-241-11575-2 (Hamilton); ISBN 0-689-11505-9 (Atheneum).

https://classicalcandor.blogspot.com/2013/07/mussorgsky-pictures-at-exhibition-sacd.html

https://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-5716/

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/aug06/Mussorgsky_London_82876787472.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modest_Mussorgsky

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictures_at_an_Exhibition