Great Composers in Words & Music - Mussorgsky

1 Introduction 00:10

Track: 1
Title: Introduction
Duration: 00:10

2 Pictures at an Exhibition: IV. Bydlo (excerpt) 00:51

Track: 2
Title: Pictures at an Exhibition: IV. Bydlo (excerpt)
Duration: 00:51
Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
Performer: Dénes Várjon

3 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…" 02:40

Track: 3
Title: 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…"
Duration: 02:40

4 Kamarinskaya (excerpt) 00:55

Track: 4
Title: Kamarinskaya (excerpt)
Duration: 00:55
Composer: Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka
Ensemble: Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Anthony Bramall

5 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… 04:24

Track: 5
Title: 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…
Duration: 04:24

6 Intermezzo in modo classico (1867 version for piano) (excerpt) 01:31

Track: 6
Title: Intermezzo in modo classico (1867 version for piano) (excerpt)
Duration: 01:31
Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
Performer: Giacomo Scinardo

7 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… 01:49

Track: 7
Title: 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…
Duration: 01:49

8 Porte-enseigne Polka (Ensign-Polka) (excerpt) 01:08

Track: 8
Title: Porte-enseigne Polka (Ensign-Polka) (excerpt)
Duration: 01:08
Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
Performer: Giacomo Scinardo

9 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"… 01:55

Track: 9
Title: 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"…
Duration: 01:55

10 Scherzo in C-Sharp Minor (excerpt) 01:14

Track: 10
Title: Scherzo in C-Sharp Minor (excerpt)
Duration: 01:14
Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
Performer: Giacomo Scinardo

11 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… 02:08

Track: 11
Title: 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…
Duration: 02:08

12 Pictures at an Exhibition: VIII. Catacombae (Sepulcrum romanum) (excerpt) 00:52

Track: 12
Title: Pictures at an Exhibition: VIII. Catacombae (Sepulcrum romanum) (excerpt)
Duration: 00:52
Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
Performer: Dénes Várjon

13 Another extract from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, this a movement titled Catacombs… 01:49

Track: 13
Title: Another extract from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, this a movement titled Catacombs…
Duration: 01:49

14 Seminarist (The Seminarist) (excerpt) 01:25

Track: 14
Title: Seminarist (The Seminarist) (excerpt)
Duration: 01:25
Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
Performer: Mikhail Svetlov, Pavlina Dokovska

15 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… 01:10

Track: 15
Title: 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…
Duration: 01:10

16 St. John's Night on Bald Mountain, "A Night on the Bare Mountain" (original version) (excerpt) 00:46

Track: 16
Title: St. John's Night on Bald Mountain, "A Night on the Bare Mountain" (original version) (excerpt)
Duration: 00:46
Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
Ensemble: Gürzenich-Orchester Köln
Conductor: Dmitri Kitayenko

17 That Mussorgsky never heard his tone-poem in performance is perhaps not surprising, given the work's immediate reception… 02:27

Track: 17
Title: That Mussorgsky never heard his tone-poem in performance is perhaps not surprising, given the work's immediate reception…
Duration: 02:27

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

Track: 18
Title: Zhenit'ba (The Marriage), Act I Scene 1: Vot tak nachnyosh etak (Here is how you start)
Duration: 01:42
Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
Performer: Daniel Demyanov
Ensemble: USSR State Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Alexey Kovalev

19 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"… 04:15

Track: 19
Title: 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"…
Duration: 04:15

20 Boris Godunov, Prologue Scene 1: Introduction (1869 version) (excerpt) 01:14

Track: 20
Title: Boris Godunov, Prologue Scene 1: Introduction (1869 version) (excerpt)
Duration: 01:14
Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
Ensemble: Sofia National Opera Orchestra
Conductor: Konstantin Chudovsky

21 A final passage from Boris Godunov furnishes another example of a folk-inspired musical style… 01:01

Track: 21
Title: A final passage from Boris Godunov furnishes another example of a folk-inspired musical style…
Duration: 01:01

22 Boris Godunov, Act IV Scene 1: Lejtes', lejtes', slëzy gor'ki (Flow, bitter tears) (1869 version) 01:58

Track: 22
Title: Boris Godunov, Act IV Scene 1: Lejtes', lejtes', slëzy gor'ki (Flow, bitter tears) (1869 version)
Duration: 01:58
Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
Performer: Hrisimir Damyanov
Ensemble: Sofia National Opera Orchestra
Conductor: Konstantin Chudovsky

23 Here at the end of the opera, Mussorgsky paints a sorrowful picture… 02:58

Track: 23
Title: Here at the end of the opera, Mussorgsky paints a sorrowful picture…
Duration: 02:58

24 Khovanshchina, Act I: Introduction (excerpt) 02:21

Track: 24
Title: Khovanshchina, Act I: Introduction (excerpt)
Duration: 02:21
Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
Ensemble: Sofia National Opera Orchestra
Conductor: Atanas Margaritov

25 At the time Mussorgsky was working on Khovanshchina, Boris finally premiered at the Mariinsky… 02:12

Track: 25
Title: At the time Mussorgsky was working on Khovanshchina, Boris finally premiered at the Mariinsky…
Duration: 02:12

26 Pictures at an Exhibition: Promenade 01:15

Track: 26
Title: Pictures at an Exhibition: Promenade
Duration: 01:15
Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
Performer: Dénes Várjon

27 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… 00:45

Track: 27
Title: 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…
Duration: 00:45

28 Pictures at an Exhibition: II. Old Castle (excerpt) 00:48

Track: 28
Title: Pictures at an Exhibition: II. Old Castle (excerpt)
Duration: 00:48
Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
Performer: Dénes Várjon

29 Yet, as with Boris Godunov, Pictures at an Exhibition features contrasting styles… 00:34

Track: 29
Title: Yet, as with Boris Godunov, Pictures at an Exhibition features contrasting styles…
Duration: 00:34

30 Pictures at an Exhibition: V. Ballet of the Chickens in their Shells 01:14

Track: 30
Title: Pictures at an Exhibition: V. Ballet of the Chickens in their Shells
Duration: 01:14
Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
Performer: Dénes Várjon

31 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… 03:08

Track: 31
Title: 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…
Duration: 03:08

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

Track: 32
Title: Pesni i plyaski smerti (Songs and Dances of Death): No. 3. Trepak (arr. E. Denisov for voice and orchestra) (excerpt)
Duration: 01:54
Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
Performer: Vladislav Sulimsky
Ensemble: Gürzenich-Orchester Köln
Conductor: Dmitri Kitayenko

33 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… 02:07

Track: 33
Title: 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…
Duration: 02:07

34 Pesnya Mefistofelya v pogrebke Auerbakha (Mephistopheles's Song in Auerbach's Cellar), "Song of the Flea" (excerpt) 01:00

Track: 34
Title: Pesnya Mefistofelya v pogrebke Auerbakha (Mephistopheles's Song in Auerbach's Cellar), "Song of the Flea" (excerpt)
Duration: 01:00
Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
Performer: Mikhail Svetlov, Pavlina Dokovska

35 Following Mussorgsky's dismissal from government service on 13 January 1880, the composer made further appearances as Leonova's accompanist… 05:48

Track: 35
Title: Following Mussorgsky's dismissal from government service on 13 January 1880, the composer made further appearances as Leonova's accompanist…
Duration: 05:48

36 Pictures at an Exhibition: X. The Great Gate at Kiev (excerpt) 02:07

Track: 36
Title: Pictures at an Exhibition: X. The Great Gate at Kiev (excerpt)
Duration: 02:07
Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
Performer: Dénes Várjon

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Great Composers in Words & Music - Mussorgsky

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