Modeste Moussorgski
His musical education was erratic, he toiled as a civil servant and wrote music only part-time, influenced few if any of his contemporaries, died early from alcoholism, and left a small body of work. Yet Modest Mussorgsky was a towering figure in nineteenth century Russian music. His works exhibit a daring, raw individuality, a unique sound that well-meaning associates tried to conventionalize and smooth over. He is best known for Night on Bald Mountain (bowdlerized by Rimsky-Korsakov), Pictures at an Exhibition (a difficult piano suite orchestrated by Ravel), and the dark, declamatory opera Boris Godunov (polished by Rimsky-Korsakov) -- bastardized works all, yet each one full of arresting harmonies, disturbing colors, and grim celebrations of Russian nationalism.
Mussorgsky died in poverty, but he was born to a wealthy landowning family. Under his mother's tutelage, he developed a facility at the piano, but entered a cadet school in preparation for a military career. He joined a choir and discovered Russian church music, which would profoundly influence his later work.
Upon graduation in 1856, Mussorgsky entered the Russian Imperial Guard. That year he started to socialize with the composers Dargomizhsky and Cui, and through them Balakirev, with whom he began composition lessons. During this period he wrote small piano pieces and songs, and after an emotional crisis in 1858 resigned his commission with the intention of composing full-time. He began to go his own way as a composer in 1861, but was preoccupied helping to manage his family's estate. The decline in his family's fortunes led him to accept low-level civil service positions. He joined a commune with other intellectuals and became a proponent of musical Realism, applying the style to his songs. He had difficulty finishing works in larger formats, but his music circulated widely enough that by the late 1860s he was cast with Balakirev, Cui, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Borodin as part of Russia's "Mighty Handful."
Mussorgsky toiled many years at his masterpiece, Boris Godunov, which reflected in music the inflections of Russian speech and met with great success in 1874. That year he also produced his innovative piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition. Yet his heavy drinking led to his dismissal from government service in 1880. Friends offered some financial help and Mussorgsky occasionally accompanied singers at the piano, but his finances and mental state quickly deteriorated. He died in 1881, leaving it to posterity to sort through and complete his unfinished works of unruly genius.
© TiVo
-
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition / Night on Bald Mountain (Studio)
Classical - Released by Phoenix USA on 1 Nov 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Night on Bald Mountain
Classical - Released by Audiofonic Records on 8 Feb 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky - Colorful
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 27 Feb 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: The Capture of Kars, Triumphal March (Digitally Remastered)
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 28 Oct 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pictures at an Exhibition
Classical - Released by Audiofonic Records on 25 Jan 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake; Mussorgsky - Boris Godunov; Borodin - Symphony No. 1 in E Flat
Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Pyotr Illitch Tchaïkovski, Modeste Moussorgski, Russian Music Society
Classical - Released by Russian Music Society on 20 Jan 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
James Brawn In Recital, Vol. 1
Classical - Released by MSR Classics on 17 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Classical Collection, Vol. 3
Classical - Released by Planet Music on 12 Feb 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Modest Mussorgsky. 20 Golden Melodies In Modern Processing
Classical - Released by Russian Compact Disc on 20 Aug 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, Boris Godunov
Classical - Released by Classical.com Music on 16 Feb 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Leonard Pennario: The Early Years 1950-1958, Vol. 3
Classical - Released by MSR Classics on 8 Aug 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Night at the Lysayer Gorev, Symphonic Fantasy (Digitally Remastered)
Moscow RTV Large Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Cherkasov
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 28 Oct 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Scherzo in B-Flat Major (Digitally Remastered)
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 28 Oct 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Classical Great Series, Vol. 35: Mussorgsky
Classical - Released by Global Journey on 13 Jun 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Halloween Classical Music
Classical - Released by Music Ware on 28 Oct 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Musik Zun Entspannen
Classical - Released by Music Ware on 18 May 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Roberto Bravo de Colección, Vol. 9
Classical - Released by JCM on 24 Feb 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Promenade (Pictures at an Exhibition)
Alfred Wilhelmsson, Modeste Moussorgski
Classical - Released by Wide&Brook on 5 Apr 2024
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Moussagorsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
Classical Masters, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National de l'Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre symphonique de Hambourg, Modeste Moussorgski
Classical - Released by Skèpis Arts on 20 Apr 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition
The Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Antal Doráti
Classical - Released by Sunday Club Records on 31 May 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo