Mussorgsky booklet 03

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CILEA

Acque correnti Piano Music Cello Sonata

& THE EARLY PIANOFORTE

Suites Op. 5 & 17 • Symphonic Dances NIKOLAI PETROV, ALEXANDER GHINDIN • 2 pianos

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Bach

Sandro De Palma, piano

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Luca Guglielmi CRISTOFORI PIANO 1726 SILBERMANN PIANO 1749 HUBERT CLAVICHORD 1784

MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition SCHUMANN: Kinderszenen

Alexander Gavrylyuk

M odest M ussorgky : P ictures Throughout its existence, Pictures at an Exhibition has been subject to the attentions of orchestrators and arrangers who have used Mussorgsky’s brilliant and original piano score as a musical outline to be filled in with their own orchestral or instrumental colouration.

This process began from the moment of its publication in 1886 (five years after Mussorgsky’s death) with an arrangement by Rimsky’s Korsakov’s pupil Tushmalov, followed in 1915 by that of Sir Henry Wood and then in 1922 by Ravel’s famous version, which has eclipsed (but not prevented the creation of) so many others. Like much of Mussorgsky’s music, Pictures passed under the editorial hand of Rimsky and although it was not subjected to the same degree of revision as for example Boris Godunov, Rimsky did not hesitate to change those elements he considered “absurd…ugly…incoherent…ill-chosen” and it was only in 1939 that ”an archaeologically accurate edition” (to use Rimsky’s dismissive phrase) finally appeared. Pictures was composed rapidly in the early summer of 1874 as a tribute to Mussorgsky’s friend, the architect and artist Victor Hartmann who had died suddenly the previous year (and was originally to be called Hartmann). Mussorgsky gave each

at an

E xhibition

of the pieces, which were based on various sketches and designs from a recent exhibition of Hartmann’s work organized by their mutual friend, the critic Vladimir Stasov (to whom Pictures is dedicated) a descriptive title (in Latin, Italian French, Polish, Russian or Yiddish) which, together with Stasov’s brief comments in the published edition, help illuminate the music in cases where the picture itself no longer survives.

Mussorgsky employs a linking device in the form of a recurring theme, called on its first and fifth appearance Promenade (but otherwise untitled) and which according to Mussorgsky represented his own lumbering gait as he moved from picture to picture. The original artwork for Gnomus (“Gnome” in Latin) is lost but it is known to have been an illustration of a design for a nutcracker in the shape of a dwarf with crooked legs. Mussorgsky breathes life into this inanimate object, turning the novelty item into an all too real and slightly nightmarish being (a precursor of Ravel’s Scarbo). A gentle statement of the ”Promenade” theme introduces Il vecchio Castello (The Old Castle), also lost, but Stasov provides the information that it included a troubadour which explains the long singing melodic line spun over the

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obsessively repeated G sharp. A brief snatch of the Promenade leads into Tuileries (Dispute d’ enfants après jeux) brilliantly evoking children’s restless bickering and sharing the same sensitive insight into a child’s world that was displayed in the song cycle The Nursery (one of whose songs In the Corner was dedicated to Hartmann).

Mussorgsky now boldly breaks the established pattern by omitting the Promenade and moving straight to the next piece, whose brutal ostinato chords provide the greatest possible contrast to the delicate filigree of Tuileries. It is a shocking transition, hitting the listener “right between the eyes” as Mussorgsky intended. He gave it the slightly misleading title Bydlo (“Cattle” in Polish) deliberately to obscure the subject matter – a cart with massive wheels drawn by oxen – but the effect he wished to create was destroyed by Rimsky’s removal of the double forte marking from the opening bars. The restored Promenade leads to the short scherzino and trio of the Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks based on costume designs for the ballet Trilby (produced in 1870 with choreography

by Petipa and a score by Gerber). The next “picture” treats a pair of portraits (both in fact owned by Mussorgsky) depicting “Two Polish Jews, one rich and the other poor” (in Stasov’s

description). Mussorgsky called it (in Yiddish) ‘Samuel’ Goldenberg and ‘Schmuyle’ and since “Schmuyle” is simply the Yiddish for Samuel the implication is that the rich Jew for all his wealth and sophistication is no different from his impoverished counterpart. While Mussorgsky certainly held anti-Semitic views characteristic of his time and social class, he also had a respect for Jewish scripture and liturgical music and the recollection of ritual chanting in the second section (representing Schmuyle) is not necessarily intended as derogatory. The combination of the ponderous declamation of Goldenberg and the high-pitched chant of Schmuyle is one of the few instances of counterpoint in the work. The fifth appearance of the Promenade (and its final one in the role of linking device) is virtually identical to the first and introduces Limoges: Le marché: La grande nouvelle (Limoges: The Market Place: The Big News). Mussorgsky originally supplied details of the women’s gossipy dispute - the runaway cow of M. Pimpant and the new false teeth of Mme de Remboursae – but later deleted these, leaving the music to speak for itself. The contrast between the final scampering runs of Limoges and the massive double forte chord which opens Sepulcrum Romanum (Roman

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Catacombs) is stark and marks a distinct change in the tone and temperament of the work. The music is stripped down to the bare essentials of alternating double forte and piano chords in a meditation on death, in particular that of Hartmann who appears in the corresponding picture viewing piled- up skulls in the Paris catacombs. In the manuscript of the linked Cum Mortuis in Lingua Mortua (With the Dead in a Dead Language) Mussorgsky wrote “The spirit of the departed Hartmann leads me towards the skulls and addresses them” and here the Promenade makes a ghostly appearance beneath a sustained tremolo drawing Mussorgsky (and the listener) into the picture and breaking down the barrier hitherto maintained between the observer and the observed. The final two pieces are on Russian subjects dear to the hearts of both Mussorgsky and Hartmann. An elaborate design for a clock in the shape of the terrifyingly mobile hut of the quintessential Russian bogeywoman BabaYaga is brought to life as it moves along on its clawed feet but Mussorgsky cleverly incorporates the mechanical ticking of the clock itself into the music (recalling the “Clock scene” in Boris Godunov). Hartmann considered his design for a ceremonial gateway in Kiev (The Bogatyr Gate:

In the Ancient Capital Kiev) his finest piece of work but alas the project was never realized.

However, Mussorgsky’s magnificent rondo finale stands as a fitting tribute to his friend and to their shared commitment to the art of Russia. The massive maestoso theme alternates with an orthodox chant (AsYou are Baptized in Christ) whose second statement is followed by a transformation of the Promenade (with carillon and other chiming bell effects prominent throughout). On its final return, the theme slows almost to a standstill testing the sonorous resources and sustaining capabilities of the instrument to the utmost.

‘Schumann’s delight in the child mind,’ observed the English critic Joan Chissell (1972), ‘went back to the time when he was the young Clara’s “moonstruck maker of charades”.’ In the thirteen precious stones of Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) Op 15 (1838) we meet with a grown-up remembering childhood and the make-believe of children. ‘Adult reminiscences for adults,’ their maker called them. ‘Whether it was an echo of what you said to me once, “that sometimes I seemed to you like a child”, he

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tells his beloved, ‘anyhow, I suddenly got an inspiration, and knocked off about thirty quaint little things, from which I have selected twelve [thirteen] and called them Kinderszenen.

They will amuse you, but of course you must forget that you are a performer […] they all explain themselves, and what’s more are as easy as possible’ (March 1838).

Cyclically cross-referenced through the opening motif of the first number, Von fremden Ländern und Menschen (Of Strange Lands and Peoples), the compression and poetry of these ‘wild imaginings and dreams’ make for a unique universe. Hasche-Mann (Blind Man’s Bluff, 3), a staccato scherzo in two; Glückes genug (Lots of Happiness, 5); the upliftingly buoyant, third beat accented Ritter vom Steckenpferd (Knight of the Hobbyhorse, 9), at first all bright and brittle C major, then chimingly sonorous in fortissimo reprise. Fast zu Ernst (Almost too serious, 10) in dark G sharp minor, right and left hands out of sync; Fürchtenmachen (Frightening, 11), recollecting the atmospheric mood contrasts of Fabel from the Fantasiestücke; Kind im Einschlummern (Child falling asleep, 12), a delicately layered lullaby with a rocking, tender E major heart, the moment of sleep and dream leaving wakefulness on an out-of-the

blue A minor (rather than home-key E minor) chord - a touch comparing with the unresolved dominant-seventh at the end of Bittendes Kind (Pleading Child, 4). Der Dichter spricht (The Poet Speaks, 13), where chorale, recitative and dieaway meet in a fading, slowing, bass-descending G major epilogue such as only Schumann could have imagined. Most famous, ‘like a perfect poem of two short stanzas by Heinrich Heine’ (Clayton Johns, The Etude Music Magazine April 1924), is Träumerei (Reverie, 7) – the partplaying and legato voicing so much harder than appears on the page.

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Born in 1984, Alexander Gavrylyuk began his piano studies at the age of seven and gave his first concerto performance when he was nine years old.

He went on to win First prize and Gold Medal at the 1999 Horowitz International Piano Competition, First Prize at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan in 2000 where the Japanese press lauded him as the “best 16 year old pianist of the late 20th century” and, in 2005, he took both the coveted Gold Medal as well as the award for Best Performance of a Classical Concerto at the internationally renowned Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Masters Competition.

Following his debut in 2010 with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Gavrylyuk has returned to Amsterdam each year, either in recital in the Master Piano Series or with the RCO. He is now increasingly in demand by orchestras and conductors for his noble and compelling interpretations and has appeared with, among others, the Philharmonic orchestras of New York, Los Angeles, Warsaw, Moscow, Israel and Rotterdam as well as the Royal Scottish National, Bournemouth Symphony, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, the Netherlands Philharmonic, San Antonio Symphony, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Brussels Philharmonic, the Vancouver Symphony and OFUNAM. He has collaborated with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Fedoseyev, Vladimir Jurowski, Alexander Lazarev, Lang-Lessing, Vassily Petrenko, Segerstam,Yuri Simonov, Herbert Soudant,Osmo Vänska and Andrey Boreyko.

In May 2013 he made his debut with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande on a concert tour with the complete Rachmaninov concerti and the Rhapsody, conducted by Neeme Järvi.

He regularly visits Japan and Asia, performing

with orchestras such as NHK Symphony and Seoul Philharmonic as well as regular recital tours, often playing to sell-out audiences in Suntory Hall and Tokyo Opera City. He returns to Russia on a regular basis and has performed with the Russian National Philharmonic under Vladimir Spivakov and the Svetlanov Russian State Symphony Orchestra, as well as recitals at the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory and at the Kremlin.

At the age of 13, Alexander moved to Sydney where he lived until 2006. He has performed with all the main Australian orchestras including Melbourne and Sydney symphonies, returning each year for concerts and recitals. In 2009 he made an acclaimed recording of the complete Prokofiev Concerti with Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Sydney Symphony which was recorded live at the Sydney Opera House.

In addition to the Prokofiev cycle, he has made several recordings including a recital disc of works

by Rachmaninov, Scriabin and Prokofiev for Piano Classics.

Highlights of the 2014/15 season include concerto performances with the Concertgebouworkest, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Istanbul Philharmonic, NHK Symphony. He will also give recitals in Concertgebouw, Vienna Konzerthaus, Budapest Opera, in Moscow and throughout Australia as well as performing chamber music with violinist Janine Jansen in Utrecht.

Alexander supports a number of charities including Theme and Variations Young Pianist Trust which aims to provide support and encouragement to young and aspiring Australian pianists as well as Opportunity Cambodia, which has built a residential educational facility for needy Cambodian children.

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