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
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Mussorgsky & Stravinsky
Modeste Moussorgski, Geoffrey Saba
Classical - Released by Carnegie Concerts on Jul 10, 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ballet Of The Unhatched Chicks From Pictures At An Exhibition
Modeste Moussorgski, Dunkin Jones
Classical - Released by Pastel Records Canada on Jul 1, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: The Old Castle
Modeste Moussorgski, Thomas Lee
Classical - Released by Pastel Records Canada on Feb 1, 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition, Brahms: Piano Pieces
Classical - Released by Cobra Entertainment LLC. on Dec 1, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Festival, Capriccio Espagnol - Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain, Pictures at an Exhibition
Radio Symphony Orchestra Ljubljana, Sofia Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Slavonica
Classical - Released by Blaricum CD Company (B.C.D.) B.V. on Apr 30, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Мусоргский: Картинки с выставки
Classical - Released by Bomba-Piter (Manchester) on Jun 21, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classics In The Pop Of Treatments. Mussorgsky - The Best
Classical - Released by Russian Compact Disc on Apr 11, 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Ormandy In Russia Vol. 5
Classical - Released by Pipeline Music on Jun 7, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pictures at an Exhibition
Classical - Released by Pipeline Music on Jun 6, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chaliapin: the Complete Recordings 1907-1936 Volume 6. British and American Recordings
Classical - Released by Music Online on Sep 11, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mezzo-Soprano: Three Masterpieces of Russian Opera
Opera - Released by Period Records on Jul 24, 1965
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Peter Jablonski: Mussorgsky & Liszt
Classical - Released by Altara on Jan 1, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition
Classical - Released by Cobra Entertainment LLC. on Dec 1, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: The Fair at Sorochyntsi: "Gopak" For Piano (Digitally Remastered)
Opera - Released by EMG Classical on Oct 28, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Simply Mussorgsky
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on May 1, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Deep Feelings (Electronic Version)
Electronic - Released by Digi Records on Aug 27, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Promenade (feat. Roger Roman)
Classical - Released by CP Projects - Solo Piano on Apr 4, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tuileries. Piano Works by Bach, Bartok & Mussorsgky
Irene Cantos, Johann Sebastian Bach, Béla Bartók, Modeste Moussorgski, Henry Purcell
Classical - Released by Novus Promusica on Mar 19, 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition / Night on Bald Mountain (Studio)
Classical - Released by Phoenix USA on Nov 1, 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Night on Bald Mountain
Classical - Released by Audiofonic Records on Feb 8, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo