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Pictures At An Exhibition
(arr. by Lawrence Leonard as concerto for piano and orchestra)
Night on the Bald Mountain (orch. Rimsky-Korsakov) |
The Philharmonia · conducted by Geoffrey Simon
CALA Records CACD1012
[76'54"] full price
by Chia Han-Leon
The idea should have been obvious, but it was only until 1977 that it was done: Mussorgsky's Pictures At An Exhibition arranged for piano with orchestra. That's right, a piano concerto based on Pictures, so to speak. Where fast running passages (as in the skitterish Ballet of the Chickens) or grandly moving chords prevail, the piano fits especially well with the orchestra.
Where the score is "two"-part, the thing to do seems to obvious: like in the argument of Samuel Goldenburg and Schmuyle, the former is taken menacingly by the booming orchestra, while poor Schmuyle is left to defend for himself with the piano. In The Market Place at Limoges, piano, brass and percussion also argue heatedly, but with much fun! The grand Promenade V (which Ravel did not orchestrate) sees piano and orchestra score with score, playing the music together, like they were meant to be.
The ominous Gnomus, where the piano first appears, is also accompanied by an interesting smattering of various percussion instruments. The piano plays alone in the tranquil Promonade II. Before long, a solo cello introduces The Old Castle in a mist of strings. The piano sings the melancholic melody on both hands, producing a haunting reverberating effect. In another stroke of genius, a wind machine is employed in the orchestra, wooing eerily around the weary turrets of the castle.
The Bydlo, depicting an approaching ox-cart which eventually lumbers past and recedes into the distance, is not as fearsome as Ravel's orchestration, with its keening tuba solo. Nevertheless, it presents a series of great chords by shifting parts of the defiant melody through the various sections of the orchestra.
Leonard has a way with accumulating and releasing the chords, punctuating the music in a distinct way. Thus, wrenching brass chords punctuate the dark swells of the "Roman Sepulchre" - the Catacombs, while Cum Mortis in Lingua Mortua ("With the dead in a dead language") hymns its sad requiem with resignation.
After the repeat, the majestic theme of The Great Gate of Kiev is grandly intoned by the piano. Booming controlled gusts of brassy wind, basses and bells bellow through the introduction. The ascending and descending scales that Ravel scored for the strings are returned to the piano to great effect, while the exciting bridge section back to the main theme is superbly orchestrated - in all, Leonard's celebration of the Great Gate is one magnificent ride.
Accompanying the "concerto" on this disc are various tone poems and orchestral works by Mussorgsky which he left incomplete or did not fully orchestrate. These include Rimsky-Korsakov's orchestration of Night on the Bald Mountain, of horror-flick-opening-music-fame (or Fantasia, for that matter). Liadov (another lazy bum who left a lot of his works incomplete) orchestrated the lively Gopak dance from Sorochinsky Fair.
The delightful suite of three Pictures from the Crimea (the CD is becoming an art gallery!), arranged by Walter Goehr consists of the scenic Hoursouff; a truly beautiful Rêverie, with its nostalgic undulating melody; and another folk dance, the Capriccio, with a calm pastoral trio in the middle.
In 1858, Mussorgsky wrote two Scherzi for piano. The one in B-flat was partly orchestrated by the composer with Balakirev's help. This 3-minute piece was finally completed by Rimsky. Not exactly a scherzo of the most hectic variety, but a dance with a central slow theme. More interesting is the sad but beautiful Une Larme ("A Tear Drop"). As the notes suggest, it is highly reminiscent of Tchaikovsky in its slowly flowing lyricism, sweet and yearning, but so often with that tinge of loss.
Mussorgsky must be one of the world's luckiest composers. So long as humanity continues to produce composers, with fresh thoughts, new ideas and even new instruments, his incomplete works will stir someone to attempt to complete their form. And in works like Pictures At An Exhibtion, containing an essence just screaming to be orchestrated, Mussorgsky's name (and fame) will always be alive, the music always reborn in new forms befitting the age, yet remaining the one same music.
Once upon a time, Chia Han-Leon was actually quite capable of painting moonscapes, planets, twinkling stars and dancing galaxies.
Lawrence Leonard's orchestration is not as colourful as Ravel's (who was, of course, a master of the art), but contains many distinctive effects. The place of percussion in the music is almost natural. The opening of the first (orchestra only) Promenade combine tubular bells with trumpets and horns to suggest the sound of a piano with its sustaining pedal depressed.
With sudden slaps of percussion sticks, The Hut on Fowl's Legs begins the final lap. The piano jumps into the jerking melody's introduction; the pounding melody provocatively punctuated by heavy brass breaths. As the witch Baba Yaga soars in the air on her mortar, the wind machine makes another haunting appearance.
Mussorgsky's Dawn on the Moscow River from the opera Khovantchina typically depicts waking birdsong and a gradually quickening pulse. Serenely, the sun rises to plaintive melodies by oboe, flute and clarinet. This is followed by Galitsin's Journey from the same opera, a dark and sombre piece complete with death knells, which was completed by Stokowski.
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265: 15.8.98 ©Chia Han-Leon
Readers' Comments
From: Helen F. Stanbro (stanbro@ix.netcom.com / Monday, November 2, 1998 at 16:01:41)
It would be neat to have online copies of the actual Viktor Hartmann pictures corresponding to the "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Mussorgsky. Are they still available?
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