Synopses & Reviews
The original piano suite, one of the great piano masterworks, along with virtually all of Moussorgskys other piano compositions, including the well-known piano arrangement of the "Hopak of the Merry Young Ukrainians" from the opera The Fair at Sorochintsy, and the Allegro and Scherzo from the incomplete Sonata in C Major for piano four hands, reprinted from an authoritative Russian edition.
Synopsis
This volume contains virtually every work Moussorgsky ever composed for the piano, including his piano arrangements and alternative versions of several pieces. It reprints all the music from the famous critical complete works edition prepared by Favel Lamm and published in Moscow in 1931.
Shortly after Boris Godunov premiered in 1874, Moussorgsky composed a set of ten tonal depictions for piano. Unpublished until 1886, five years after the composer's death, Pictures at an Exhibition has since become a great favorite of musical artists and their audiences, one of the most admired and performed of piano masterworks. Moussorgsky was inspired to compose the work while viewing a memorial exhibition of paintings by his friend Victor Hartmann. In each of the short pieces, he interpreted the subject of one of Hartmann's pictures -- children playing in the gardens of the Tuileries, the bustling marketplace at Limoges, the witch Baba Yaga, and more, all leading to the exhilarating finale evoking the great Heroes' Gate at Kiev.
The volume also includes the well-known piano arrangement of the "Hopak" from the opera Sorochintsy Fair, the pensive Une larme, the whimsical Ein Kinder-Scherzo and the Allego and Scherzo from the incomplete Sonata for piano four hands. Together with other lesser-known but engaging short works, these compositions offer pianists the opportunity to explore the keyboard legacy of one of the most powerful and original composers of the nineteenth century.
Synopsis
Features the original piano suite, along with virtually all of Moussorgsky's other piano compositions, including "Hopak of the Merry Young Ukrainians" from the opera
The Fair at Sorochintsy. Reprinted from an authoritative Russian edition.
Table of Contents
Souvenir d'enfance [Childhood Memory/Vospominanie detstva] (1857; dedicated to Nikolai Aleksandrovic Obolenski)
Scherzo in C-sharp Minor: 1st version (1858; dedicated to Liubov Mikhailovna Bube)
Scherzo in C-sharp Minor: 2nd version (dedicated to Aleksandra Fëdorovna Izvolskaia)
"Ein Kinder-Scherzo (A Child's Scherzo): 1st version [Jeux d'enfants-les quatre coins. Scherzo/Detskie igrï-ugolki (LITERALLY "Children's games-Puss in the corner"). Skertso] (1859; dedicated to Nikolai Aleksandrovic Levašev)"
Ein Kinder-Scherzo: 2nd version (1860)
Impromptu passionné (Souvenir de Beltov et Liouba): 1st version [Passionate Impromptu (Recollection of Beltov and Lyuba/Vospominanie o Bel'tov I Liube] (1859; dedicated to Nadežda Petrovna Opocinina)
Impromptu passionné: 2nd version (1859)
"Sonata in C Major for piano four hands [Sonate pour piano à quatre mains/Sonata dlia fortepiano v 4 ruki] (1860), incomplete"
I: Allegro assai
II: Scherzo
"From Memories of Childhood [Souvenirs d'enfance/Izvospominanii detstva] (1865; dedicated to the memory of his mother), incomplete"
1. Nurse and I [Niania et moi/Niania i ia]
2. "First Punishment (Nurse Shuts Me in a Dark Room) [Première punition (Niania m'enferme dans le cabinet noir)/Pervoe nakazanie: Niania zapiraet menia v tëmnuiu komnatu], incomplete"
Reverie (on a theme by Vyaceslav Alekseevic Loginov) [Rêverie/Duma] (1865; dedicated to Vyaceslav Alekseevic Loginov)
La capricieuse (on a theme by Count Login Geiden) [The Capricious One/Šalun'ia] (1865; dedicated to Nadežda Petrovna Opocinina)
Intermezzo symphonique in modo classico: 1st version [Symphonic Intermezzo in the Classic Manner] (1860-61)
Intermezzo symphonique in modo classico: transcription of orchestral version (1867; dedicated to Aleksandr Porfir'evich Borodin)
Pictures at an Exhibition [Tableaux d'une exposition/Kartinki s vïstavki] (1874; dedicated to Vladimir Vasil'evich Stasov)
Promenade [Promenade/Progulka]
1. Gnomus [Gnome/Gnom]
2. Il vecchio castello [The Old Castle/Starii zamok]
3. Tuileries (Dispute d'enfants après jeux) [Tuileries (Children's Quarrel after Playing)/Tiul'eriiskii sad (Ssora detei posle igrï)]
4. Oxen (The Oxcart) [Bydlo/Bïdlo]
5. Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks [Ballet des poussins dans leurs coques/Balet ne vïlupivišikhsia ptentsov]
6. "Two Jews, One Rich and the Other Poor (Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle) [Deux juifs l'un riche et l'autre pauvre/Dva evreia, bogatïi I bednïi]"
7. Limoges. Le marché (La grande nouvelle) [Limoges. The Market (The Big News)/Limož. Rïnok (Bol'shaia novost')]
8. Catacombae. Sepulcrum romanum [Catacombs. Roman Sepulchre/Katakombï. Rimskaia grobnitsa]
9. The Hut on Chicken Legs (Baba Yaga) [La cabane sur des pattes de poule (Baba-Jaga)/Izbuška na kur'ikh nožkakh (Baba-Iaga)]
10. "The Great [Heroes'] Gate (in the Capital, Kiev) [La grande porte (Dans la capitale de Kiev)/Bogatïrskie vorota. V stol'nom gorode vo Kieve]"
On the Southern Shore of the Crimea (Gurzuf near the Ayu-dag. From travel notes) [En Crimée (Ghourzouff. Notes de voyage)/Na iužnom beregu Krïma. Gkhurzuf u Aiu-daga (Iurzuf). Iz putevïkhzametok] (1880; dedicated to Dar'ia Mikhailovna Leonova)
Meditation: Album Leaf [Méditation: Feuillet d'album/Razdum'e: Listok iz al'boma] (1880)
Une larme (Quasi fantasia) [A Tear/Sleza] (c.1880)
The Seamstress: Scherzino [La couturière: Scherzino/Šveia: Skertsino] (1871)
Near the Southern shore of the Crimea: Capriccio (Baidari. Gurzuf near the Ayu-dag. From travel notes) [En Crimée. Capriccio (Ghourzouff. Notes de voyage)/Bliz iužnogo berega Krïma. Baidarki kapricio. Gkhursuf u Aiu-daga (Iurzuf). Iz putevïkhzametok] (1880)
In the Village [Au village/V derevne] (c. 1880; dedicated to Ivan Fëdorovic Gorbunov)
"Fair Scene, from The Fair at Sorochinsty [Scène de foire, de l'opéra "La foire de Sorotchintsy"/Iarmarocnaia stsena iz operï "Sorocinskaia iarmarka"] (arr. 1880)"
"Hopak of the Merry Young Ukrainians, from The Fair at Sorochintsy: 1st version [Hopak de jeunes ukrainiens gaillards/Gopak veselïkh parobkov] (arr. 1880)"
Hopak of the Young Ukrainians: 2nd version (arr. 1880)