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.
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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 - Released by Vox on Jan 1, 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov
Classical - Released by Music Online on Sep 27, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgksy: Tableaux d'une exposition – Bach: Chaconne – Liszt: Totentanz (Transcriptions pour orgue)
Classical - Released by VDE-GALLO on Aug 8, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Modest Mussorgsky / Claire Chevallier
Classical - Released by Cypres on Nov 11, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition, Borodin: In The Steppes of Central Asia, Glinka: Russian and Ludmilla
Classical - Released by Lodia Music International on Apr 25, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an exhibition & Night on Bald Mountain
Classical - Released by Everest Records on Jul 10, 1960
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition - Complete Orchestral & Piano Versions
Classical - Released by Cobra Entertainment LLC on Nov 11, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition - Schumann: Symphony No. 2
Classical - Released by Urania on Jul 31, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain, Dawn on the Moscow River etc.
Classical - Released by Music Online on Dec 7, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 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 - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on Apr 27, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Unorthodox Music
Claire Booth, Christopher Glynn
Classical - Released by AVIE Records on Oct 15, 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Chaliapin: the Complete Recordings 1907-1936 Volume 5. British and American Recordings
Classical - Released by Music Online on Sep 10, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky - Borodin
Orquesta Nacional de Montecarlo, Orquesta Sinfónica de la Radio de Hamburgo, Orquesta Nacional de la Radio de Francia
Classical - Released by JamadaDigital on Dec 18, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Halloween At Home
Franz Liszt, Modeste Moussorgski, Antonín Dvořák
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on Oct 19, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
Classical - Released by Heritage Records on Aug 4, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Une Larme (A Tear) For Piano [Digitally Remastered]
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on Oct 28, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Absolutely The Best Of Mussorgsky
Classical - Released by Worldwide Records on Jan 19, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gnomus (feat. Roger Roman)
Classical - Released by CP Projects - Solo Piano on Apr 4, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina
Classical - Released by Music Online on Oct 15, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition
Christian Lindberg, Israel NK orchestra, Modeste Moussorgski
Classical - Released by EUROPEAN GRAMOPHONE on Aug 10, 2021
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Steven Stucky, Berlioz, Musorgsky
Classical - Released by New York Philharmonic on May 15, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo