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

$13.99
Label
Naxos
Release Date
April 1, 2003
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      MUSSORGSKY
    • ORCHESTRA / ENSEMBLE
      Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
    • PERFORMER
      Theodore, Kuchar
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      April 01, 2003
    • UPC
      747313592425
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      8555924
    • LABEL
      Naxos
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Instrumental
    Works ⌄

    1. St. John's Night on Bald Mountain, "A Night on the Bare Mountain" (arr. N. Rimsky-Korsakov)

      Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

      Ensemble: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Theodore Kuchar

    2. Sorochintsy Fair: Gopak (Hopak)

      Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

      Ensemble: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Theodore Kuchar

    3. Khovanshchina, Act V: Golitsin’s Exile (arr. N. Rimsky-Korsakov)

      Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

      Ensemble: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Theodore Kuchar

    4. St. John's Night on Bald Mountain, "A Night on the Bare Mountain"

      Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

      Ensemble: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Theodore Kuchar

    5. Promenade

      Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

      Ensemble: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Theodore Kuchar

    6. I. Gnomus

      Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

      Ensemble: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Theodore Kuchar

    7. Promenade

      Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

      Ensemble: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Theodore Kuchar

    8. I. ll vecchio castello

      Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

      Ensemble: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Theodore Kuchar

    9. Promenade

      Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

      Ensemble: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Theodore Kuchar

    10. III. Tuileries

      Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

      Ensemble: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Theodore Kuchar

    11. IV. Bydlo

      Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

      Ensemble: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Theodore Kuchar

    12. Promenade

      Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

      Ensemble: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Theodore Kuchar

    13. V. Ballet of the Chickens in their Shells

      Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

      Ensemble: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Theodore Kuchar

    14. VI. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle

      Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

      Ensemble: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Theodore Kuchar

    15. VII. Limoges - The Market Place

      Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

      Ensemble: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Theodore Kuchar

    16. VII. Catacombae

      Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

      Ensemble: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Theodore Kuchar

    17. Cum mortius in Lingua morta

      Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

      Ensemble: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Theodore Kuchar

    18. IX. The Hut on Fowls' Legs, "Baba Yaga"

      Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

      Ensemble: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Theodore Kuchar

    19. X. The Great Gate of Kiev

      Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

      Ensemble: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Theodore Kuchar


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