Modest Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel)

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1. St. John's Night on Bald Mountain, "A Night on the Bare Mountain" (arr. N. Rimsky-Korsakov)    2. Sorochintsy Fair: Gopak (Hopak)   3. Khovanshchina: Khovanshchina, Act V: Golitsin's Exile (arr. N. Rimsky-Korsakov)   4. St. John's Night on Bald Mountain, "A Night on the Bare Mountain" (original version)   5. Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. M. Ravel) : Promenade   6. Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. M. Ravel) : I. Gnomus   7. Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. M. Ravel) : Promenade   8. Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. M. Ravel) : I. ll vecchio castello   9. Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. M. Ravel) : Promenade 10. Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. M. Ravel) : III. Tuileries 11. Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. M. Ravel) : IV. Bydlo 12. Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. M. Ravel) : Promenade 13. Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. M. Ravel) : V. Ballet of the Chickens in their Shells 14. Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. M. Ravel) : VI. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle 15. Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. M. Ravel) : VII. Limoges - The Market Place 16. Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. M. Ravel) : VII. Catacombae 17. Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. M. Ravel) : Cum mortius in Lingua morta 18. Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. M. Ravel) : IX. The Hut on Fowls' Legs, "Baba Yaga" 19. Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. M. Ravel) : X. The Great Gate of Kiev
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 FLAC Check Comments