Modest Mussorgsky
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
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Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition, Night on Bald Mountain & Khovanshchina (Excerpts) - Borodin: In the Steppes of Central Asia
Modeste Moussorgski, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin
Classical - Vox 発売日 1996/01/01
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
GRANDI VOCI - NICOLAI GHIAUROV Una collana dedicata con registrazioni originali Decca e Deutsche Grammophon rimasterizzate con le tecniche più moderne che ne garantiscono eccellenza tecnica e artistica
Nicolaï Ghiaurov, Giuseppe Verdi, Modeste Moussorgski
Classical - UME - Global Clearing House 発売日 2021/04/27
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Unorthodox Music
Claire Booth, Christopher Glynn
Classical - AVIE Records 発売日 2021/10/15
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Halloween At Home
Franz Liszt, Modeste Moussorgski, Antonín Dvořák
Classical - UME - Global Clearing House 発売日 2020/10/19
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gnomus (feat. Roger Roman)
Classical - CP Projects - Solo Piano 発売日 2013/04/04
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition
Christian Lindberg, Israel NK orchestra, Modeste Moussorgski
Classical - EUROPEAN GRAMOPHONE 発売日 2021/08/10
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Khovantchina
Leningrad State Opera Orchestra
Opera - Period Records 発売日 1965/09/24
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky - Time
Classical - UME - Global Clearing House 発売日 2020/07/18
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Relaxed Holidays
Modeste Moussorgski, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Dimitri Chostakovitch
Classical - UME - Global Clearing House 発売日 2020/12/05
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Great Gate at Kiev , Das Große Tor (feat. Roger Roman)
Classical - CP Projects - Solo Piano 発売日 2013/04/04
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Modest Musorgsky-Maurice Ravel: Pictures At An Exhibition
Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, Maurice Ravel, Modeste Moussorgski, Andre Vandernoot
Classical - Music Manager 発売日 2012/10/22
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pictures At An Exhibition Part 1
Classical Hits, Schola Camerata, Modeste Moussorgski
Classical - Global Art Music 発売日 2023/12/15
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky & Stravinsky
Modeste Moussorgski, Geoffrey Saba
Classical - Carnegie Concerts 発売日 2003/07/10
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ballet Of The Unhatched Chicks From Pictures At An Exhibition
Modeste Moussorgski, Dunkin Jones
Classical - Pastel Records Canada 発売日 2023/07/01
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: The Old Castle
Modeste Moussorgski, Thomas Lee
Classical - Pastel Records Canada 発売日 2024/02/01
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Pictures at an Exhibition (Classics Collection)
Classical - Il Loggione Records 発売日 2018/02/09
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Simply Mussorgsky
Classical - UME - Global Clearing House 発売日 2021/05/01
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Deep Feelings (Electronic Version)
Electronic - Digi Records 発売日 2021/08/27
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Promenade (feat. Roger Roman)
Classical - CP Projects - Solo Piano 発売日 2013/04/04
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo