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Naxos

Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition, Etc / Kuchar, Et Al

$19.99

Details

Composer
MUSSORGSKY
Artist
Theodore, Kuchar
Format
CD
Label
Naxos
Released
Apr 01, 2003
Catalog #
8555924
UPC
747313592425

About

These brilliant, hard-driving performances bring back (happy) memories of Russian orchestras of the 1960s and a style of playing that has all but disappeared. The performances aren't subtle, but then neither is the music, and my how Theodore Kuchar and Co. deliver the goods! The playing isn't perfect: in Pictures, Gnomus sounds a touch frantic, and the trumpets smear their rhythms in Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle; but incidental imperfections count for little next to Kuchar's "pedal to the metal" approach. Listen to the plangent wind sonorities in the second Promenade, to the pounding attack on The Hut on Fowl's Legs, or to the totally uninhibited brass and percussion at the conclusion of The Great Gate of Kiev. This is the real deal, an impression only confirmed by scorching accounts of both versions of A Night on Bald Mountain (Mussorgsky's original and Rimsky-Korsakov's better-known rewrite). The other two short pieces, the Hopak and Golitsin's Exile, simply put the icing on the cake. Don't let the cheap price, the not-terribly-well-known performers, or the brevity of this review prevent you from trying out this really exciting and very well recorded disc (probably the best sonics from this source thus far). You'll be missing a real treat if you do. [6/7/2003]

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Tracklist 19 tracks

  1. 1 St. John's Night on Bald Mountain, "A Night on the Bare Mountain" (arr. N. Rimsky-Korsakov) 10:54
    Track
    1
    Title
    St. John's Night on Bald Mountain, "A Night on the Bare Mountain" (arr. N. Rimsky-Korsakov)
    Duration
    10:54
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Ensemble
    Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Theodore Kuchar
  2. 2 Sorochintsy Fair: Gopak (Hopak) 01:42
    Track
    2
    Title
    Sorochintsy Fair: Gopak (Hopak)
    Duration
    01:42
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Ensemble
    Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Theodore Kuchar
  3. 3 Khovanshchina, Act V: Golitsin’s Exile (arr. N. Rimsky-Korsakov) 05:10
    Track
    3
    Title
    Khovanshchina, Act V: Golitsin’s Exile (arr. N. Rimsky-Korsakov)
    Duration
    05:10
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Ensemble
    Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Theodore Kuchar
  4. 4 St. John's Night on Bald Mountain, "A Night on the Bare Mountain" 12:50
    Track
    4
    Title
    St. John's Night on Bald Mountain, "A Night on the Bare Mountain"
    Duration
    12:50
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Ensemble
    Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Theodore Kuchar
  5. 5 Promenade 01:41
    Track
    5
    Title
    Promenade
    Duration
    01:41
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Ensemble
    Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Theodore Kuchar
  6. 6 I. Gnomus 02:37
    Track
    6
    Title
    I. Gnomus
    Duration
    02:37
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Ensemble
    Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Theodore Kuchar
  7. 7 Promenade 00:59
    Track
    7
    Title
    Promenade
    Duration
    00:59
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Ensemble
    Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Theodore Kuchar
  8. 8 I. ll vecchio castello 04:23
    Track
    8
    Title
    I. ll vecchio castello
    Duration
    04:23
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Ensemble
    Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Theodore Kuchar
  9. 9 Promenade 00:34
    Track
    9
    Title
    Promenade
    Duration
    00:34
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Ensemble
    Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Theodore Kuchar
  10. 10 III. Tuileries 00:56
    Track
    10
    Title
    III. Tuileries
    Duration
    00:56
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Ensemble
    Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Theodore Kuchar
  11. 11 IV. Bydlo 03:17
    Track
    11
    Title
    IV. Bydlo
    Duration
    03:17
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Ensemble
    Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Theodore Kuchar
  12. 12 Promenade 00:42
    Track
    12
    Title
    Promenade
    Duration
    00:42
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Ensemble
    Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Theodore Kuchar
  13. 13 V. Ballet of the Chickens in their Shells 01:12
    Track
    13
    Title
    V. Ballet of the Chickens in their Shells
    Duration
    01:12
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Ensemble
    Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Theodore Kuchar
  14. 14 VI. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle 02:17
    Track
    14
    Title
    VI. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle
    Duration
    02:17
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Ensemble
    Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Theodore Kuchar
  15. 15 VII. Limoges - The Market Place 01:24
    Track
    15
    Title
    VII. Limoges - The Market Place
    Duration
    01:24
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Ensemble
    Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Theodore Kuchar
  16. 16 VII. Catacombae 02:04
    Track
    16
    Title
    VII. Catacombae
    Duration
    02:04
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Ensemble
    Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Theodore Kuchar
  17. 17 Cum mortius in Lingua morta 02:12
    Track
    17
    Title
    Cum mortius in Lingua morta
    Duration
    02:12
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Ensemble
    Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Theodore Kuchar
  18. 18 IX. The Hut on Fowls' Legs, "Baba Yaga" 03:27
    Track
    18
    Title
    IX. The Hut on Fowls' Legs, "Baba Yaga"
    Duration
    03:27
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Ensemble
    Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Theodore Kuchar
  19. 19 X. The Great Gate of Kiev 05:04
    Track
    19
    Title
    X. The Great Gate of Kiev
    Duration
    05:04
    Composer
    Modest Mussorgsky
    Ensemble
    Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Theodore Kuchar