Pictures at an Exhibition / Night on the Bare Mountain (with Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17 'Little Russian')
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MUSSORGSKY
Pictures at an Exhibition / Night on the Bare Mountain (with Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17 'Little Russian')
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Kirill Karabits
[ Onyx / CD ]
Release Date: Monday 10 October 2011
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Following the success of their first release on ONYX, the BSO and Karabits turn to the Ukraine for the second release in the orchestra's partnership with ONYX.
Tchaikovsky's most overtly nationalistic symphony, his 2nd known as the 'Little Russian' uses folk songs from the Ukraine, and is the nearest the composer came to the musical and cultural ideals proposed by 'The Mighty Handful'. This group of composers - Borodin, Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Cui and Mussorgsky rejected the Western influences on Russian culture, and looked to the music, folklore and history of Mother Russia for inspiration. Mussorgsky, probably the most naturally gifted of this group composed A Night on the Bare Mountain in 1867, and the original version heard here was not published until 1968. It is a striking work, quite shocking in it's modernity, and a world away from Rimsky's better known re-composition of the piece. The suite Pictures at an Exhibition was written for piano in 1874 and inspired by paintings by his friend Victor Harmann displays Mussorgsky's great gift of graphic evocation. Ravel's masterly orchestration was made in 1922.
"Karabits encourages the players to dig deep into the music, pounding out the rhythms sturdily, in the Tchaikovsky especially, rather than bustling ahead nervously. At 82 minutes this is a generous, as well as an enjoyable CD." The Observer, 30th October 2011
"Strong rhythmic definition, clarity of orchestral texture and firmly controlled impetus give the Tchaikovsky a definite boost. Karabits coaxes a ripe, full sound from the Bournemouth players and encourages broad bowings from the strings that add weight to the sonority. Equally he allows for individual instrumental colours to tell..Karabits is an inspired architect." The Telegraph, 11th November 2011 ****
"[it] has everything we expect from a Tchaikovsky interpreter of the Moscow school - colour, sweep, majesty, but not a whiff of indulgence. The Bournemouth orchestra responds with style and drive - all wind sections in superlative form - and a symphony that is often dismissed as a poor relation of its better known successors comes across as a masterpiece" Financial Times, 26th November 2011 *****
"The Musorgsky pieces are superbly performed...Bare Mountain's hair-raising opening sounding genuinely menacing rather than brash, and every cackle of the witches as impersonated by strings and woodwind brought to vivid life. Pictures, too, is a triumph, with Ravel's orchestration telling in every vignette." BBC Music Magazine, February 2012 *****
"If there's a single distinguishing feature of this generously filled disc it's Karabits's determination to convey the grass-roots spirit of the themes which breathe life into these pieces...Characteristically, he is more mindful of the pianistic cragginess of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition than of Ravel's finesse...Karabits is big-boned and earthy, and positively encourages coarser-grained sonorities from his Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra." Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice, March 2012
