UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

Date:______

I, ______, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: in:

It is entitled:

This work and its defense approved by:

Chair: ______

Pictures at an Exhibition: A Performer’s Guide Comparing Recorded Performances by Pianists Vladimir Horowitz and Evgeny Kissin : “Eccentric” vs. “Academic” Playing

A document submitted to the

Division of Graduate Studies and Research of the University of Cincinnati

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS (D.M.A.)

In Piano Performance

of the College-Conservatory of Music

2007

By

David T. Sutanto

B.M., The Boston Conservatory, 1995 M.M., Manhattan School of Music, 1997

Committee Chair: Prof. Frank Weinstock Abstract

Vladimir Horowitz and Evgeny Kissin would certainly be included among the very few of the greatest pianists ever recorded. This document provides a detailed description of their interpretations of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition based on their recordings. The document begins with brief biographical information about Mussorgsky and Victor Hartmann, which is then followed by a historical background of Pictures. Brief biographies of Horowitz and Kissin are included as well.

The concluding chapter discusses whether or not it is important for pianists to follow

Mussorgsky’s original intentions regarding the suite. Is it necessary for pianists to make some changes or improvisations to the suite—eccentric playing? Will Pictures still sound good and interesting if pianists faithfully follow the score—academic playing? Pianists

Frank Weinstock and Jason Kwak offer their opinions in answering these questions.

i

Acknowledgments

It is hard to believe that I am actually able to complete this document. Upon

receiving the approval letter of my document proposal, I remember screaming, “Praise

the Lord and thank You for answering my prayer.” There were few memorable events in

my life and that moment was certainly included in them.

A few people contributed to the completion of this project. The first one is my

incredible, beloved wife, Shao-Shan Chen. Without her constant and loving

encouragement, I would not have had the courage to even begin writing the proposal for

this document. Indeed, Shao-Shan is a great woman in my life. Thank you, darling!

My deepest appreciation goes to my piano professor and main advisor, Frank

Weinstock. If there is such thing as a guardian angel, then Mr. Weinstock is truly my

guardian angel. Words of “thank you” are simply not enough to describe my gratitude to

him, who spent enormous hours and energy in helping me completing this document. To

my other advisors, Professors James Tocco and Michael Chertock, thank you so very much for taking time from your busy schedules to review this document.

Last but not least, I need to thank my wonderful friend, Joel Rugerio. Joel

patiently spent countless hours in reading and pointing out errors in my writing. Joel, you

deserve my utmost gratitude and I certainly owe you a big one!

Finally, I would like to dedicate this document to my wonderful children, Antony

and Cynthia. Thank you, kids, for allowing daddy to “peacefully” get through this

project.

iii Table of Contents

Abstract i

Acknowledgments iii

I PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION 3

A. Mussorgsky and Hartmann 3

A1. Brief Biography of Modest Mussorgsky 3

A2. Brief Biography of Victor Hartmann 6

B. Hartmann’s Relationship with Mussorgsky and the Birth of

Pictures 9

II VLADIMIR HOROWITZ AND EVGENY KISSIN 12

A. Brief Biography of Vladimir Horowitz 12

B. Brief Biography of Evgeny Kissin 17

III PERFORMANCE COMPARISON OF PICTURES BY

HOROWITZ AND KISSIN 20

Promenade 22

1. Gnomus 24

[intermezzo] 26

2. Il Vecchio Castello (The Old Castle) 26

1 [intermezzo] 28

3. Tuileries (Children Quarrelling After Play) 29

4. Bydlo 30

[intermezzo] 32

5. Ballet of the Chicks in Their Shells 33

6. “Samuel” Goldenberg and “Schmuÿle” 35

Promenade 38

7. Limoges, The Market Place 38

8. Catacombae (Sepulcrum Romanum) 41

Con Mortuis in Lingua Mortua 43

9. The Hut on Fowl’s Legs (Baba-Yaga) 45

10. The Great Gate of Kiev 48

IV CONCLUSION 53

Bibliography 56

Discography 59

2 CHAPTER 1

Pictures at an Exhibition

A. Mussorgsky and Hartmann

A1. Brief Biography of Modest Mussorgsky

When considering Russian composers from the nineteenth century, one cannot escape the name, Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky. Mussorgsky was born on March 9, 1839 in the city of Karevo, Russia. At age six, Mussorgsky began his musical training with piano lessons from his mother. His music talent was so apparent that at the age of seven he was able to perform some small piano pieces by Liszt. Two years later he played a piano concerto by John Field at an evening party in his house.

There are three things to which the young Mussorgsky was always attracted:

Russian folktales, Russian character, and Russian people. He caught the essence of these things and turned them into some improvisations on the piano. This predilection continued throughout his life.1

In 1849, Modest and his brother, Filaret, were sent to Peterschule, an elite secondary school for aristocratic families in St. Petersburg. There he studied piano with

Anton Herke, one of the best pianists and teachers in St. Petersburg. Subsequently,

Mussorgsky was enrolled in the Cadet School of the Guards from 1852 to 1856 to be trained for a career as a military officer. Upon graduation, Mussorgsky joined the military

1 K. Marie Stolba, The Development of Western Music: A History (Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1990), 733-4.

3 service as a Russian Imperial guard in the Preobrazhensky Regiment. In the winter of

1856-57, Mussorgsky was introduced to the composer Dargomïzhky, and soon after that

he attended many evening concerts in Dargomïzhky’s home where he met César Cui,

Mili Balakirev, and music critic Vladimir Stasov.

Mussorgsky’s musical career entered into the second period at this time when he

began composition lessons with Balakirev in December of 1857. He learned theory and

analysis for the first time and was introduced to past and contemporary western

compositions. Balakirev made sure that Mussorgsky fully understood the rules and

fundamentals of music theory and compositional technique from Western composers. In

addition to these Western influences, Balakirev also encouraged Mussorgsky to

incorporate ideas from Russian history, Russian tales, everyday life incidents, and

Oriental flavors into his compositions. Important piano works during this period are the

Scherzo in B-flat major, Impromptu passionné, Ein Kinderscherz, Sonata for four hands

in C major, From Memories of Childhood, and La capricieuse.

As his musical career started to grow, he began to face personal crises. He

suffered his first nervous breakdown in 1859. Starting in 1861, his family and he began to gradually lose their wealth and property due to the emancipation of the serfs and the

Great Reform in Russia. Mussorgsky had to work as a low-level civil service officer.

Furthermore, the death of his mother in 1865 exacerbated an existing addiction to alcohol.

A significant association during this second period was the strong friendship that

Mussorgsky had with Balakirev’s other disciples: Alexander Borodin, César Cui, and

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Stasov called the five of them “The Mighty Handful,” a term

4 that was never used at that time by anyone else but Stasov himself.2 These five

composers tried to incorporate ideas of realism and non-militaristic nationalism into their music. For instance, they used the music of Russian people, including religious and folk, as the basic ideas for their compositions. They abandoned strict rules of German music theory and counterpoint in order to achieve more musical freedom. The style and spirit of important foreign composers such as Schumann, Liszt, Berlioz, and Chopin were also rejected.3 Mussorgsky, being the most talented and nationalistic of Balakirev’s disciples,4

wrote to Balakirev, “I feel a certain regeneration; everything Russian seems suddenly

near to me.”5

Mussorgsky’s mature period lasted from 1866 to 1876. His musical style during

this period is characterized by a broad knowledge of Russian music and music from

Germany, France, and Italy as well. His famous and monumental works like the

orchestral piece St. John’s Night on the Bare Mountain, the opera Boris Godunov, the

three song cycles (The Nursery, Sunless, and Songs and Dances of Death), and the piano

suite Pictures at an Exhibition were composed during this span of time. Toward the end

of this period, his chronic nervous breakdowns and severe alcoholism became worse.

After his two beloved friends—Victor Hartmann and Nadezhda Opochinina—passed

away, his music began to depict frustration, hopelessness, and death.6 His adherence to

the Balakirev circle also gradually lessened.

2 Ibid., 729. 3 Ibid., 731. 4 Ibid., 733. 5 Micahel Russ, Musorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 7. 6 M.D. Calvocoressi, Modest Mussorgsky: His Life and Works (London: Rockliff Publishing Corporation, 1956), 183-4.

5 Mussorgsky’s final years were very unstable. He was isolated by many of his

friends, fired from government jobs, and tried to survive by writing new music, but often

found himself unable to finish pieces. To supplement his income, he frequently

accompanied the singer Darya Leonova. In spite of the problems he endured during this

time, he produced some wonderful compositions such as the vocal work Mephistopheles’

Song in Auerbachs’s Cellar, two short piano pieces depicting the Crimea, and the

orchestral work The Capture of Kars. He died on March 16, 1881 at the Nikolayevsky

Military Hospital.

A2. Brief Biography of Victor Hartmann

Victor Alexandrovitch Hartmann was born on April 23, 1834 in St. Petersburg,

Russia. Since both his parents had died before he was four, Hartmann was raised by his

aunt, Luisa Ivanovna Gemilian. Her husband was a well known architect in St.

Petersburg. Through the influence of the Gemilians, Hartmann was admitted to the

Imperial Academy of Mines at the age of twelve. At eighteen, he enrolled in the

Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg to study painting and architecture. When he graduated from the Academy in 1862, he won the highest awards.

His first architectural design was The Milleniary Monument (1862), which still

exists right now in the city of Gorki. In addition to his work as an architect, Hartmann

also worked as a wood engraver, preparing illustrations for books published by the

Hohenfelder Publishing Company in St. Petersburg.

Hartmann married a Polish woman in 1864, and immediately, they traveled

throughout Europe to countries like France, Germany, Italy, and Poland. During these

6 times, Hartmann produced numerous watercolor paintings and sketches of cathedrals and

buildings of interesting architectural design. He also drew many sketches of people’s

lives in small towns that he visited. Hartmann returned to St. Petersburg in 1868. Soon

after that, Vladimir Stasov invited him to participate in the decoration and construction of

the All-Russian Manufacturing Exposition held in the Russian capital in 1870. Hartmann

created more than six hundred sketches and plans for that event. Stasov, who had been an

admirer of Hartmann’s works since 1862, described the sketches and plans as “a fountain

of genius.”7 One particular sketch that Hartmann designed for the exposition— a sketch

for the National Theater at Moscow—won a gold medal from the Vienna World Fair in

1873.

In 1869, Hartmann also entered a design competition for a grand entrance or

gateway to be erected at the city of Kiev in commemoration of Tsar Alexander II’s

escape from assassination by a nihilist group. Due to the lack of funds, the competition

was cancelled and no gate was ever erected in Kiev. However, Hartmann’s design of the

gate had been completed and it caused a sensation. Hartmann considered his design of the

Kiev’s gate as his finest work.8 The other important work of Hartmann was his series of

watercolor designs for the theater, including the costume sketches for Julius Gerber’s

ballet Trilbi (1870).

The Russian people, however, were not greatly enthusiastic for Hartmann’s

architectural designs, partly because many of the designs were peculiar in pattern and

structure. Artist Kramskoy remarked, “When he was to build commonplace, utility

objects, Hartmann was a failure, for he needed fairy-tale castles and fantastic palaces for

7 Alfred Frankenstein, “Victor Hartmann and Modeste Musorgsky,” Musical Quaterly 25 (1939): 274. 8 Ibid., 274.

7 which there were no precedents—here he could create truly wonderful things.”9 Of

Hartmann’s works, musicologist Alfred Frankenstein also wrote:

“In architecture, the field of Hartmann’s main endeavor, the nationalist movement meant mainly elaborate, fantastic, and, at least from the modern viewpoint, impractical and useless ornamentation. It contributed little or nothing in the way of the adaptation of structure to use, which is the main purpose of architecture, rather it substituted for classical decoration, decoration taken from medieval Slavonic and contemporary folk motives;….It offered no real solutions to essential problems of buildings. So it was that most of Hartmann’s effort was directed towards purely decorative and often ephemeral things—buildings for fairs, commemorative monuments, and so on.”10

Hartmann’s premature death in the summer of 1873, in St. Petersburg, of an aneurysm abruptly ended his could-have-flourished career as an architect. Stasov was attending the Vienna World Fair, at which Hartmann won the gold medal for his design of the National Theater at Moscow, at the time of Hartmann’s death. Stasov later wrote to his sister about Hartmann: “In my eyes he was the most talented, the most original, the most adventurous, the boldest of all our architects, even those of the new young school….He was a talent—strong!!”11 One might wonder whether the name Victor

Hartmann would still be remembered if Mussorgsky had never composed the Pictures at an Exhibition.

9 Michael Russ, Musorgsky, 19. 10 Alfred Frankenstein, “Victor Hartmann”: 270. 11 Michael Russ, Musorgsky, 15.

8 B. Hartmann’s Relationship with Mussorgsky and the Birth of Pictures

After Victor Hartmann had returned from his Western European tour in 1868,

Vladimir Stasov frequently brought him to and got him acquainted with Mili Balakirev.

Balakirev would then introduce Hartmann to his disciples—Borodin, Cui, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov. Hartmann became an especially close friend of Mussorgsky, because both of them were very ardent Russian nationalists. They also shared the same radical ideology, that is, to devote themselves to seeking truth in art by crafting a natural style without classical artifice.12

Mussorgsky dedicated his song, In the Corner, from his song-cycle Nursery

(1868-72), to Hartmann. Hartmann even suggested that Mussorgsky have the entire song- cycle performed with sets and costumes. Hartmann also played some role in the composition of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov. It was Hartmann who prevailed on the composer to restore the fountain scene in the opera.13

Hartmann’s sudden death at the age of 39 in 1873 affected Mussorgsky deeply. In the letter dated July 26, 1873 to Mme. P.S. Stassova, he wrote, “….This joy changed and turned topsy-turvy when I found out that our dear Vittiushka Hartmann had died in

Moscow of an aneurysm. Grief! Grief! Oh, poor Russian much-suffering art!....”14 In a letter to Stasov dated August 2, 1874, Mussorgsky wrote, “Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, live on?—and creatures like Hartmann must die!....”15 Mussorgsky took Hartmann’s

12 Peter Guntmann, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (from Goldmine 28, 2002), 28. 13 Michael Russ, Musorgsky, 19. 14 Alfred Frankenstein, “Victor Hartmann”: 278. 15 Peter Guntmann, Mussorgsky’s, 28.

9 death as a severe blow to the whole of Russian culture. “Woe to the orphaned Russian art!”16

Vladimir Stasov and Count Paul Suzor, president of the Architect’s Society,

decided to arrange an exhibition of all of Hartmann’s existing art works. The exhibition

was opened to the public for about one month starting in the second week of February

1874. It was held in the Hall of the Academy of Artists in St. Petersburg. There is no

evidence as to when Mussorgsky went to the exhibition, but we definitely know the great

impact it had on Mussorgsky.

From about four hundred art works displayed at the exhibition, Mussorgsky chose

ten and interpreted them into music as a suite for piano. Most of these ten works are from

the collection of paintings and watercolors that Hartmann did during his travels abroad.

In transforming the paintings into music, Mussorgsky added a lot of imagination by

paying attention to small details surrounding the main subject of each painting. He also

visualized each image as a living and moving thing.17 Mussorgsky worked on the

composition with great enthusiasm. In a letter to Stasov dated June 12, 1874, he wrote:

“Hartmann is boiling as Boris boiled; sounds and ideas have been hanging in the air; I am devouring them and stuffing myself—I barely have time to scribble them on paper. I am writing the fourth number—the links are good (on “Promenade”). I want to finish it as quickly and securely as I can. My profile can be seen in the interludes. I consider it successful to this point….The titles are curious: “Promenade (in modo russico),” No. 1, “Gnomus”—intermezzo (the intermezzo is untitled); No. 2, “Il vecchio castello”—intermezzo (also untitled); No. 3, “Tuileries” (dispute enfants après jeux); right between the eyes, No. 4, “The Sandomirsko Bydlo” (le télègue) (le télègue, obviously is untitled, which is between us). How well it is working out….I want to add Vityushka’s [i.e., Victor Hartmann’s] Jews.”18

16 Modest Mussorgsky, Literary Legacy: Letters, Biographical Materials and Documents, translated by Xenia Danko (State Publishers Music: Moscow, 1971), 158. 17 Alfred Frankenstein, , “Victor Hartmann”: 281. 18 Michael Russ, Musorgsky, 17.

10 Mussorgsky spent only twenty days completing the entire composition. The final

page of the manuscript is dated “22 June 1874, St. Petersburg.” Mussorgsky dedicated the

work to Stasov five days later. The Russian title of the work, Kartinki s vystavki, is actually best translated as Pictures from an Exhibition. However, one sees the English title Pictures at an Exhibition most often.

Pictures was never published during Mussorgsky’s lifetime. This was partly due

to the lack of its public performance and the unpianistic writing and daring harmonies.19

That Mussorgsky must have performed the piece for Stasov and Nikolai Rimsky-

Korsakov is evident from their letters and their attempts to indicate the metronome marking of each movement. When the suite was first published in 1886 by Bessel of St.

Petersburg, it included the program notes of each movement by Stasov and metronome indications by Rimsky-Korsakov.

It is a very unfortunate fact that most of these ten paintings are lost today. Only six of them can be certainly related to the movements of Pictures. We can get ideas about the lost ones from three sources: Victor Alexandrovich Hartmann, Architect. A Biography and Catalogue of All His Works, printed by Nicholas Petrovitch Sobko in 1874 in St.

Petersburg; the program notes written by Stasov for the 1886 edition of Pictures; and the letter (dated January 31, 1903) from Stasov to Arkady Kerzin that contained more detailed explanations about each movement of the suite.

19 Ibid., 22.

11 CHAPTER 2

Vladimir Horowitz and Evgeny Kissin

A. Brief Biography of Vladimir Horowitz

Pianist Vladimir Horowitz was born on October 1, 1903 in Berdichev, Russia. His father, Samuel, was an electrical engineer and his mother, Sophie, was an amateur pianist. Horowitz received his early piano training from his mother. At the age of nine, he was enrolled at the Kiev Conservatory. He began his piano studies with Vladimir

Puchalsky and, in 1915, he continued his studies with Sergei Tarnowsky. When

Tarnowsky was erroneously reported to have died of typhus in 1919 (he actually did survive from that malady), Horowitz was immediately transferred into Felix

Blumenfeld’s class. Horowitz admired Blumenfeld greatly, because Blumenfeld was a piano student of Anton Rubinstein and also a composition student of Nikolai Rimsky-

Korsakov. Horowitz referred to Blumenfeld as his best teacher.20 The following year,

Horowitz graduated from the Conservatory. His graduation solo recital program included

Bach-Busoni’s Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue in C; Mozart’s Gigue in G; one Beethoven sonata; Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes; Rachmaninoff’s Sonata No. 2; and Chopin’s F

Minor Fantasy. His graduation chamber music recital consisted of Schumann’s Piano

Quintet and Schubert’s Winterreise. For his required concerto concert, he played

Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto. 1920 was the year that marked the end of

20 Harold C. Schonberg, Horowitz: His Life and Music (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992), 52.

12 Horowitz’s formal studies. From this point on, he embarked on a professional career as

concert pianist.

Horowitz performed solo recitals in many cities throughout Russia. He met

violinist Nathan Milstein in 1922 and they began concertizing together. Milstein wrote of

his first encounter with Horowitz: “Volodya [Horowitz] was a little wild about music. He

was terribly instinctive, you know. He was a great talent and you cannot judge such a

talent by normal measurements. When he was wrong it was also good.”21 Occasionally

the Horowitz-Milstein duo would find other musicians who would join them in

performing piano trios, quartets, or quintets.

Horowitz and Milstein met Alexander Merovitch, a concert manager, in 1923.

Merovitch brought the two of them to Berlin in 1925. It was at this point that Horowitz

began his international career. He made his solo recital debut at the Beethovensaal in

Berlin on January 2, 1926. Shortly after, Horowitz played recitals in Hamburg. Milstein and Horowitz collaborated in several concerts as well. After one month in Germany,

Merovitch brought the two artists to Paris. Upon hearing Horowitz for the first time, pianist Artur Rubinstein wrote, “He made Paris tremble.”22 Horowitz made Paris his home for about fourteen years. While there, he met many musicians, such as Artur

Rubinstein, Sergei Prokofiev, Francis Poulenc, Alfred Cortot, and Ignaz Friedman,

among others.

Horowitz gave his U.S. debut on January 12, 1928, in Carnegie Hall. He played

the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 under the baton of Sir Thomas Beecham, who

happened to make his U.S. debut as well. Of this concert, Olin Downes from the New

21 Ibid., 57. 22 Ibid., 87

13 York Times wrote, “It had been years since a pianist created such a formidable

impression in New York City. His treatment of the work was a whirlwind of virtuoso

interpretation. Mr. Horowitz has amazing technique, amazing strength, irresistible youth

and temperament.”23 His success with American audiences was phenomenal, and solo

and concerto concerts were quickly scheduled. On April 23, 1933, he played for the first

time with the conductor Arturo Toscanini in a Beethoven cycle concert. He was featured

in this concert with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra performing the Beethoven

Piano Concerto No. 5. During the rehearsal Horowitz met Toscanini’s daughter, Wanda.

They fell in love and were married that year on December 21 in Milan, Italy.

Horowitz settled in New York City in 1940 and became an American citizen in

1942. Through his many concerts in the United States, he helped raise millions of dollars

for the War Bond effort. One of the concerts generated eleven million dollars for the US and Allied Forces. He began teaching in 1944. He selected very few young pianists who had to be very talented. Among them were Byron Janis, Gary Graffman, Coleman

Blumfield, Roland Turini, Alexander Fiorillo, and Ivan Davis.

Horowitz was absent from his concert career from 1953 to 1965. During this time

he produced many recordings in his New York townhouse, including discs of Scriabin,

Clementi, and Beethoven piano sonatas. Horowitz returned to the concert stage on May 9,

1965 for a solo recital at Carnegie Hall. It was a sold out recital. All the New York critics

raved about it. Upon hearing Horowitz’s opening piece, Bach-Busoni’s Organ Toccata in

C Major, Alan Rich of the Herald Tribune wrote, “A few seconds thereafter he

23 Ibid., 107.

14 reaffirmed beyond any possible doubt his place among the supreme musicians of all

time.”24

Horowitz played a limited number of concerts each year since 1965. He made

several highly acclaimed recordings, such as his 1968 television program, Horowitz on

Television, televised by CBS; and a 1969 recording of Schumann’s Kreisleriana, which

was awarded the Prix Mondial du Disque. Even into his 80’s he still maintained his

concert activities. He played in Japan in 1983 and 1986, in Germany, Italy, Netherlands, and Russia in 1986. On December 14, 1986, Horowitz performed a solo recital in New

York’s Metropolitan Opera Hall, which was his last recital in the United States. Two months earlier, President Ronald Reagan awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom after his concert at the White House. He played in Vienna on May 31, 1987 in a live telecast. His last concert appearance was in Hamburg on June 21, 1987. Horowitz lived another two years and finished making a recording days before he died suddenly of a heart attack on November 5, 1989 in New York City. He was buried in the Toscanini family tomb in Cimitero Monumentale, Milan, Italy. Music critic and pianist David

Dubal wrote, “When Vladimir Horowitz died in 1989, the whole pianistic world reeled.

Horowitz was the yardstick of pianistic prowess for most of the twentieth century. Not since Liszt and Paderewski had any pianist created such a legend.”25 Throughout

Horowitz’s life, he produced 133 recordings, performing works by J. S. Bach, Barber,

Beethoven, Brahms, Busoni, Chopin, Clementi, Czerny, Debussy, Dohnányi, Haydn,

Kabalevsky, Liszt, Medtner, Mendelssohn, Moszkowski, Mozart, Poulenc, Prokofiev,

24 Ibid., 218. 25 David Dubal, Remembering Horowitz: 125 Pianist Recall a Legend (New York: Schirmer Books, 1993), preface xiii.

15 Rachmaninoff, Saint-Saëns, Scarlatti, Schubert, Schumann, Scriabin, Stravinsky, and

Tchaikovsky.

16 B. Brief Biography of Evgeny Kissin

Evgeny Kissin was born in Moscow on October 10, 1971. His musical talent was

demonstrated even before he turned one year old. In his interview with David Dubal,

Kissin said, “I’m told I started singing when I was eleven months old. First I sang a Bach

fugue, and soon I was singing classical music, popular songs, anything.”26 He began his

formal piano study at age six with Anna Pavlovna Kantor at the Gnessin School of Music for Gifted Children in Moscow. Ms. Kantor has been his only teacher ever since. She has also been living with the Kissins since 1990. She even accompanies Kissin wherever he plays concerts.

At the age of ten he made his concerto debut performing Mozart’s Piano

Concerto, K. 466, with the Orchestra of Ulyanovska. The following year, he gave his solo

recital debut in Moscow. His name caught international attention in March 1984, when he

performed both Chopin concerti in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory with the

Moscow State Philharmonic under Dmitri Kitaenko.

Kissin’s first appearances outside Russia were in 1985 when he performed in

Budapest, followed by a tour of Japan. In 1987, he performed his West European debut at the Berlin Festival. Subsequently, he toured Europe with the conductor Vladimir

Spivakov and the Moscow Virtuosi. He also made his London debut with the London

Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev. The Maestro Herbert von

Karajan invited Kissin to perform with the Berlin Philharmonic during the New Year’s

Eve Gala Concert in Berlin at which they performed the Tchaikovsky’s First Piano

Concerto.

26 David Dubal, Reflections from the Keyboard: The World of the Concert Pianist 2nd ed. (New York: Schirmer Books, 1997), 268.

17 Kissin made his U.S. debut in September 1990, performing both Chopin concerti

with Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic. A week after the concert, he made

his spectacular recital debut at Carnegie Hall. Of the recital, Dubal wrote, “Kissin’s

personal appearance shows an elevated seriousness, and his total control and command of

every note display an unswerving attention span. He seems almost to demand that his

audience listen carefully.”27

Since then, Kissin’s career continues to flourish. He has received many musical

awards from around the world. Among them are the Crystal Prize of the Osaka

Symphony Hall in Japan and the Musician of the Year Prize from the Chigiana Academy

of Music in Siena, Italy. He was invited as a special guest at the 1992 Grammy Awards

ceremony, and he became the youngest-ever Musical America Instrumentalist of the Year

in 1995. He was also awarded, as the youngest awardee ever, the prestigious Triumph

Award for his outstanding contribution to Russia’s Culture in 1997 by the Russian

Republic.

In the summer of 1997, Kissin became the first pianist ever to be invited to

perform a solo recital by the BBC Promenade Concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in

London. Subsequently, Kissin was invited again to perform a piano concerto at the

Proms’ opening 2000-2001 concert season. Since then, he has given concerto

performances every year at the Proms.

Kissin maintains a busy concert schedule, about fifty concerts a year, performing

across the musical capitals of United States, Japan, and Europe. He has released 49 recordings, from which numerous awards, such as the Eddison Klassiek in The

27 David Dubal, The Art of the Piano: Its Performers, Literature, and Recordings, 2nd Ed. (New York: A Harvest Book, Harcourt Brace & Company, 1995), 142.

18 Netherlands, the Diapason d’Or, and the Grande Prix of La Nouvelle Academie du

Disque in France, as well as accolades from music magazines throughout the world, were received. He has also collaborated with many great conductors, such as Claudio Abbado,

Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Christoph von Dohnányi, Carlo Maria Giulini,

Herbert von Karajan, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Seiji Ozawa, Evgeny Svetlanov, and

Yuri Temirkanov.

The Manhattan School of Music in New York City awarded Kissin an Honorary

Doctorate in Music in May of 2001. He currently resides in New York City. Dubal wrote,

“Let us hope that neither the wear and tear of jet travel, endless expectations, and constant appearances before a ravenous public nor the tedious business aspects of a great career will damage him [Kissin] physically or psychically.”28

28 Ibid., 143.

19 CHAPTER 3

Performance Comparison of Pictures by Horowitz and Kissin

As mentioned earlier, the suite Pictures at an Exhibition was never published

during Mussorgsky’s lifetime. Soon after Mussorgsky died, T. I. Filippov, his executor,

distributed all the unpublished works of Mussorgsky to the Bessel Publishing Company,

including Pictures. Bessel then requested that Rimsky-Korsakov be the chief editor of the

works. As Rimsky-Korsakov prepared Pictures for its first publication in 1886, he made

several amendments to the music. He considered Pictures as “flawed, full of silly errors,

and in places, unacceptably ugly.”29 This subjective opinion of Rimsky-Korsakov would eventually influence many pianists in the early twentieth-century into thinking that the suite was not composed “correctly” and therefore, it required some “improvements” in

order to make the work sound more pianistic.30 Musicologist Albert Lockwood wrote of

Pictures in his Notes on the Literature of the Piano (Michigan: 1940), “Mussorgsky, as a writer for piano, is almost negligible….The [fifth] Promenade becomes a trifle tiresome and may be omitted.”31

In 1920, Russian conductor Sergei Koussevitzky (1874-1951) commissioned

Maurice Ravel to write an orchestration of the suite. The orchestration was completed in

1922. As requested by Koussevitzky, it was written in the manner of Rimsky-Korsakov.32

Koussevitzky made a recording of the orchestration with the Boston Symphony Orchestra

29 Michael Russ, Musorgsky, 23. 30 Ates Orga, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (from International Piano Quarterly 2, Autumn 1998), 32. 31 Ibid., 32 32 Michael Russ, Musorgsky, 77.

20 in 1930. Although there are twenty two other orchestrations of Pictures, Ravel’s

orchestration of the suite has become the most famous orchestration to this day.

Nobody is certain as to when the first piano performance of Pictures was. There is

evidence that the suite was performed some time in December of 1914 in London. It received its U.S. premiere in January of 1922 in Chicago by pianist and composer Sergei

Prokofiev. Pianist Alexander Brailowsky also performed the work in Vienna on October

16, 1935. Subsequently, more pianists such as Benno Moiseiwitch, Vladimir Horowitz,

Julius Katchen, William Kapell, and Sviatoslav Richter performed and recorded it.

The most controversial performance and recording of Pictures was given by

Horowitz. He first recorded it in November and December of 1947 then, he performed it

during his 1951 Carnegie Hall recital. Horowitz created his own version of the suite by

combining several sources such as Rimsky-Korsakov’s 1886 edition, Maurice Ravel’s

orchestration (1922), and of course, his own ideas.33 Harold Schonberg wrote, “Horowitz gave the piece a pair of transcendent performances, ‘orchestrating’ it on the keyboard and getting a coloristic quality that no pianist, not even the great Sviatoslav Richter, has achieved.”34

Horowitz’s 1947 recording of Pictures received “outraged reviews, ‘purists’

persist in hating it, and they commented that Horowitz put graffiti on the score.”35 In an

interview with Dubal, Horowitz said,

“They said I put graffiti on Mussorgsky, but I don’t give a damn. I worked hard on that transcription….I felt the Pictures had to be brought forward. They were too introverted, and this was possibly because Mussorgsky was a little bit of a dilettante, and he was not really a pianist….I ‘pianostrated’ it. When I change

33 Ibid., 38. 34 Harold C. Schonberg, Horowitz, 327. 35 David Dubal, Remembering Horowitz, xxv.

21 anything, it is only to make a better piano sound. And Mussorgsky didn’t know how. I’m sorry but that is true….” 36

In 2001, Evgeny Kissin made a recording of Pictures. Of this recording, music

reviewer Tom Manoff said, “After hearing so many classical warhorses played badly so

many times, I have found a recording that makes Mussorgsky’s Pictures of an Exhibition come alive again.”37 Kissin’s performance of the suite is very much in contrast with that of Horowitz’s. He made no major changes, nor did he add notes to the work.

This chapter presents a detailed description of Horowitz’s and Kissin’s interpretations of Pictures based on their recordings. The music score published by the

International Music Company is somewhat close to the Russian Muzyka edition (1975),

which is the facsimile of the original manuscript. Each of the recordings will be

compared with the score to examine how much the pianists follow or deviate from

Mussorgsky’s original ideas. Mussorgsky’s original tempo marking will be included after

the title of each movement, which is then followed by the metronome marking indicated

by Rimsky-Korsakov and the program notes written by Stasov on its 1886 publication.

Stasov’s program notes are quoted from Alfred Frankenstein’s article in the Musical

Quarterly, No. 25 (1939), Victor Hartmann and Modeste Mussorgsky.

Promenade—Allegro giusto, nel modo russico; senza allegrezza, ma poco sostenuto.

The metronome marking is ♩ = 104. “The introduction bears the title

Promenade.” In his biography of Mussorgsky, Stasov wrote an additional comment for

36 David Dubal, Evenings with Horowitz: A Personal Portrait (London: Carol Publishing Corporation, 1991). 37 Tom Manoff in a commentary on NPR’s All Things Considered (June 18, 2002).

22 this movement: “The composer has shown himself pacing here and there; sometimes loitering, sometimes hastening to get near a picture; sometimes the joyful gait slackens—

Mussorgsky thinking of his dead friend.”38

The only dynamic marking that Mussorgsky put in this movement is forte and it is

placed at the very beginning. Horowitz begins the movement boldly and it is definitely no

less than forte. In measure 9, Horowitz changes the dynamic marking to be softer and

places a crescendo in the following measure. The sound backs down in measure 11 and is

followed by another big crescendo from measure 12 to the downbeat of measure 17. A

sudden soft dynamic proceeds immediately on the second beat of measure 17, and from

there, Horowitz generates another crescendo until the downbeat of measure 19. The same

scenario is repeated at this time, where Horowitz drastically brings down the dynamic

level before making a final crescendo starting in measure 20 until the end of the

movement.

In terms of the tempo, Horowitz stays very close to the metronome marking

indicated by Rimsky-Korsakov, except in the last two measures where he seems to put a molto ritardando. It is also important to notice that Horowitz adds notes in many of the

chords, such as in measures 4, 10, 13, and in several other places, in order to make a bigger and fuller sound.

Kissin’s tempo in this movement is slightly faster than that of Rimsky-

Korsakov’s. It is somewhat around 112 to the quarter-note. The beginning monophonic

theme is played rather legato and slower than by Horowitz. The dynamics get louder and

softer in measures 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8. Similar to Horowitz’s performance, Kissin plays

measures 9 to 11 softer, only to create a more effective crescendo in measure 12. From

38 Alfred Frankenstein, , “Victor Hartmann”: 282.

23 measure 13 until the end, the dynamic level stays in the range of perhaps, forte to

fortissimo. Unlike Horowitz, Kissin doesn’t add any notes in playing each of the chords,

and only gives a slight ritardando on the last two quarter-note chords of this movement.

Gnomus—Sempre vivo.

The Metronome marking is 120 to the dotted half-note. “A drawing representing a

little gnome walking awkwardly on deformed legs.” Stasov also explained in his letter to

musicologist Montagu-Nathan that the drawing was a design for a toy nutcracker made

for a Christmas tree at the St. Petersburg Artists’ Club in 1869.39

Mussorgsky indicated many tempo changes throughout this movement, such as:

meno vivo in between measures 4-6, sempre vivo starting at measure 7, Poco meno mosso, Pesante from measures 38-44, Vivo for measures 45 and 46, among others. We also encounter varieties of dynamic markings as well as numerous sforzandi in this piece.

Horowitz’s initial tempo for this movement is much slower than that of Rimsky-

Korsakov’s. It is as if Horowitz considers every note important. The most interesting

thing that Horowitz does to this movement is to add many notes in many places. The

additions are: doubling of octaves (e.g., the B-flat in the left hand, on the last beat in

measures 9, 16, 27, 30, 34, and 35, is doubled with its octave lower note—see Example

A); addition of grace-notes (e.g., the left-hand A’s in measures 21 and 25 are preceded by

a quick G and G#); use of pedal point (e.g., each chromatically descending half-note in

the left hand between measures 60 to 65 is followed by a quarter-note of low E-flat—see

Example B); and modification of note values (e.g. each chromatically descending half-

39 Ibid., 282.

24 note in the right hand between measures 66 to 71 is modified into rapid “broken” octaves

starting from the written notes, to an octave above and back—see Example C).

Example A:

Example B:

Example C:

Kissin’s initial tempo of this movement is faster than that of Horowitz’s, although not as fast as Rimsky-Korsakov’s metronome indication. The first change that Kissin makes to this movement occurs in measure 19. The section from measures 19 to 28 is to be played fortissimo, but he plays it at a somewhat piano dynamic level. All the sforzandi seem to be ignored and all the quarter-note chords are played staccato and softly as well. The original dynamic marking of mezzo forte seems to be replaced by a piano on both the Poco meno mosso, pesante sections (mm. 38-44 and 47-53).

In the poco a poco accelerando section (beginning in measure 72), Kissin uses the damper pedal very slightly. All the quarter-note chords in the right hand are, again,

25 played very staccato (just as in the section between measures 19 to 28). The running

eighth-notes in the velocissimo segment (in the last five measures) are played incredibly

fast and superbly articulated.

[intermezzo]—Moderato commodo assai e con delicatezza.

The metronome marking is ♩ = 104. Stasov did not include any explanations for

this movement. Unlike the previous Promenade, this one is shorter in length (it only has twelve measures) and it also has a much calmer mood. The dynamic marking is predominantly piano. Mussorgsky indicates a couple of crescendi and diminuendi in

measures 3-4 and 7-8. There is a diminuendo to pianissimo in the last measure.

Both Horowitz’s and Kissin’s performances of this movement are similar in style.

The tempi of theirs are slower than the indicated one. It is probably around ♩ = 92. It is

interesting to notice that both the pianists do not show the five marcato markings that

Mussorgsky wrote respectively in measures 9 (in the left hand) and 11-12 (in the right

hand). Horowitz does not make any changes in this movement. The end of this

Promenade is an attacca to the second painting movement.

Il Vecchio Castello (The Old Castle)—Andante molto cantabile e con dolore.

The metronome marking is ♩ = 56. “A medieval castle before which stands a

singing troubadour.” This movement can be described as a “song without words” with

26 guitar-like accompaniment and a melody resembling that of Russian folk music.40

Almost the entire piece has only one dynamic marking, pianissimo, placed in the

beginning. Not until the last two measures did Mussorgsky put a contrasting forte

dynamic marking, which is immediately followed by a diminuendo back to a pianissimo.

Upon hearing Horowitz performing this Old Castle, the first thing that strikes the

listener is the rhythmic freedom (rubato) that Horowitz employs throughout the

movement. Mussorgsky put a con espressione in measure 7 when the melody in the right

hand enters. Horowitz seems to take this idea to an extreme—with the exaggerated

rubato—that it almost sounds as though the piece were composed by Chopin or Liszt. An

example of such is found between measure 21 and measure 27, where he accelerates the

speed in measure 21 to the downbeat of measure 24 and continues with a ritardando to

measure 27. The “give and take” rhythm happens so many times that the pulse of the

music often seems distorted.

The influence of Ravel’s orchestration of the suite can be seen in three places: elimination of a section from measures 50 to 68; substituting the tenor line of B-B-A with

B-A#-A in measure 97; and creating a crescendo and diminuendo in both the chordal sections—measures 28 to 36 and measures 37 to 45.

Kissin seems to follow the metronome marking that Rimsky-Korsakov indicated

for this movement. His performance is much slower than that of Horowitz’s—Kissin’s

has a duration of 5 minutes and 13 seconds, while Horowitz’s has 3 minutes and 40

seconds. The ostinato bass rhythm of a quarter-note followed by an eighth-note is heard clearly throughout the movement. He uses the rubato so discreetly that the listeners can

feel the pulse of the 6/8 meter throughout the entire piece.

40 Michael Russ, Musorgsky, 37.

27 Kissin treats the section from measures 50 to 68—Horowitz eliminates this

section—as a place for the piece’s first climactic point, where the thunderous fortissimo happens in measure 58. When the whole section is repeated again from measures 69 to

85, the same thunderous ff occurs in measure 77. Kissin substitutes the tenor line of B-B-

A with B-A#-A in measure 97. One may suspect that Ravel’s orchestration has undoubtedly influenced Kissin as well. Unlike Horowitz’s performance, Kissin gives more attention to the last fermata over the rests on both clefs before continuing to third

Promenade.

[intermezzo]—Moderato non tanto, pesamente.

Rimsky-Korsakov indicated a metronome marking of ♩ = 104. In terms of the

mood, this intermezzo has a more dramatic quality then the previous one. It begins with a

loud G# octave in the right hands. The texture gets thicker with the added chords in the

right hand in measures 3 and 4. Beginning in measure five, the texture gradually thins

out and the movement ends quietly with three single eighth-notes of F#-G#-C# in the

right hand. Of this movement, Michael Russ wrote, “The whole thing….reflecting the

endings of Russian folk songs.41

Horowitz begins the movement with a bold dynamic marking as Mussorgsky

indicated (forte). The tempo is slightly slower than that of Rimsky-Korsakov’s, around ♩

= 92. Mussorgsky placed a diminuendo marking in measure 7, but Horowitz begins the

diminuendo in measure 5. By the last measure, the dynamic marking seems to turn to a

41 Ibid., 38.

28 pianissimo as opposed to the written piano. Horowitz also plays the last three eighth notes semi-staccato.

In this Promenade, Kissin is very “faithful” to Mussorgsky’s intention and

Rimsky-Korsakov’s metronome marking. The dynamic forte is kept throughout until the

first two beats of measure 7. A diminuendo is followed just as Mussorgsky indicated.

Tuileries (Children Quarelling After Play)—Allegretto non troppo, capriccioso.

The metronome marking indicated by Rimsky-Korsakov is ♩ = 144. “Dispute of

the children after play. A walk in the garden of the Tuileries with a group of children and

nurses.”

Horowitz plays the movement at a much slower tempo (♩ = 108) than what

Rimsky-Korsakov indicated. The first thing that listeners may notice of his playing is that

Horowitz accelerates the tempo each time he plays a sixteenth-note melodic pattern in the

right hand. One wonders if perhaps Horowitz tries to depict the melodic pattern as

children running in the garden of the Tuileries. “After all, children argue when they argue

and run when they run.”42 He also slows down slightly in the middle section (measures

14 to 19).

To each left-hand chord, on the downbeat of measures 8, 9, 23, and 24, he adds an

octave-lower C#, perhaps to make the chord sound thicker. He also generates a crescendo

in measure 26 before abruptly returning to a pianissimo in measure 27. Horowitz ends

42 Vladimir Ashkenazy, note to the Vienna Urtext Edition.

29 this movement with an accelerando on all the sixteenth notes in measure 29 and a staccato articulation on the last chord (measure 30).

Kissin’s tempo in this movement is very close to that of Rimsky-Korsakov. It is

somewhat between ♩ = 132-138. Kissin maintains a steady rhythmic pulse throughout the

piece by not rushing all the running sixteenth-note melodic patterns. The middle section

(beginning in measure 14) is played slightly slower. The tempo gradually accelerates in

measure 20 and returns to a tempo by the time Kissin reaches measure 22.

Kissin also adds a crescendo in measure 26 (like Horowitz) before bringing the

sound back suddenly to a pianissimo in the following measure. It seems that it is

inevitable for both pianists to not play the last chord staccato.

Bydlo—Sempre moderato, pesante.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s metronome marking for this movement is ♩ = 88. This

metronome marking seems to contradict Stasov’s description of this movement—“Polish

wagon on enormous wheels drawn by oxen.” One might speculate that Rimsky-Korsakov intended to put ♪ = 88, instead of ♩ = 88. Both Horowitz and Kissin perform this

movement at a speed of around ♪ = 88.

The title Bydlo comes from a Polish word meaning “cattle.” In a letter to Stasov,

Mussorgsky explained that this movement was originally titled Sandomirzsko Bydlo, i.e.,

“Cattle at Sandomir.” He also added that the picture which inspired this movement represents a wagon, “but the wagon is not inscribed on the music; that is purely between

30 us.”43 This movement is written in ternary form—A section (mm. 1-20)-B Section (mm.

21-37)-A section (mm. 38 to end).

The major change from the original manuscript that Horowitz makes to this movement is the dynamic marking. Perhaps, influenced by Rimsky-Korsakov’s 1886 edition of Pictures and the 1922 orchestration of the suite by Ravel, Horowitz begins this movement softly (Mussorgsky wrote fortissimo in the first measure and did not change it until measure 32—diminuendo). As the movement progresses, Horowitz employs a crescendo all the way to measure 20. At this point, the B section begins. Horowitz suddenly brings the dynamic level down in this section before gradually making another crescendo through measure 26. He drops the dynamic level down once again in measure

27 and builds it through measure 31. Horowitz follows the diminuendo marking in measure 32. From this point on, he adheres to all the dynamic markings indicated by

Mussorgsky.

When the A section returns in measure 38, Horowitz certainly takes the written suggestion sempre pesante e poco allargando and con tutta forza seriously. His volume of sound is incredibly huge. It is as though Horowitz turns the piano into a full orchestra.

Furthermore, he also adds chords to the octave-notes in the right hand (measures 38 to

47) and holds the damper pedal longer to create as massive a sound as the piano can possibly produce. He ends the movement quietly, just as Mussorgsky intended—a pianississimo, followed with the word perdendosi.

Kissin’s performance of this piece once again proves his “loyalty” to the original manuscript. He begins with a fortissimo as indicated and retains it throughout until he reaches measure 32, where Mussorgsky put a diminuendo marking.

43 Alfred Frankenstein, , “Victor Hartmann”: 282.

31 Kissin accelerates the speed slightly in the B section (measures 21 to 37). When

the music returns to the A section (measure 38), he complies with the suggested poco

allargando marking by slowing down the speed. He also takes into account the

designations of sempre pesante and con tutta forza by producing a tremendous volume of

sound. Finally, just like Horowitz, Kissin ends this melancholic movement44 softly and

slowly—perdendosi.

[intermezzo]—Tranquillo.

The indicated metronome marking for this ten-measure movement is ♩ = 104. The

tonality is unexpectedly shifted to the key of D Minor. In measure 9 it modulates to the

key of F Major, anticipating the next ballet movement.

The first change that Horowitz makes to this movement occurs in measure 2,

when he plays the right hand chord of E-G-E an octave lower. In addition to

Mussorgsky’s diminuendo at the end of measure 8, Horowitz also adds a slight

ritardando to it. Mussorgsky included the word attacca at the bottom of the last measure, but Horowitz takes a longer pause before continuing to the next movement.

Kissin’s tempo in this movement is slightly slower than that of Horowitz’s and is

certainly much slower than Rimsky-Korsakov’s suggestion. It is around ♩ = 76. While

Mussorgsky intended the forte in measure 7 to be somewhat subito, Kissin precedes it with a crescendo. The four sixteenth-note chords, resembling the rhythmic motive of the

44 Michael Russ, Musorgsky, 40.

32 next movement in measure 9, are executed shockingly fast. Unlike Horowitz, Kissin observes the attacca at the end of this movement to the next movement.

Ballet of the Chicks in Their Shells—Scherzino.

The suggested metronome marking by Rimsky-Korsakov for this movement is ♩

= 88. “A little picture by Hartmann for the setting of a picturesque scene in the ballet

Trilbi.” The painting that inspired the composition of this movement actually survives. It is described as “Canary-chicks, enclosed in eggs as in suits of armor. Instead of a head- dress, canary heads, put on like helmets, down to the neck.”45

This movement is written in conventional ternary form—it begins with a Scherzo section, followed by a Trio then comes back to the Scherzo.

Horowitz performs this movement in a much faster tempo, almost twice faster, than what Rimsky-Korsakov indicated. It is played at the speed of ♩ = 168. He starts softly, as Mussorgsky wrote (pianissimo and una corda). A crescendo and an accelerando occur during the ascending scale pattern in the left hand from measures 5 to

45 Alfred Frankenstein, , “Victor Hartmann”: 283.

33 8. The opening phrase is stated again in measure 9 and Horowitz brings the dynamic level

down to pianissimo. When the ascending scale pattern occurs from measures 13 to 16,

Horowitz accelerates the speed again, just as in the previous one, and also initiates a

crescendo much earlier than what Mussorgsky intended—the mf dynamic is placed in

measure 17 and is followed by a crescendo in the following measure.

The trills in the Trio section are originally written for the soprano notes only, but

Horowitz applies the trills to both the soprano and the alto notes. Mussorgsky wrote

pianississimo at the beginning of the Trio section and never made any change to it.

Horowitz applies the soft dynamic marking only to the right-hand trills while the left

hand ostinato accompanying pattern is played louder in volume. The second part of the

Trio is also played in an at least mf dynamic level with much attention given to the accent

signs in the right-hand melody.

The movement ends quietly (as Mussorgsky intended) and leaves the listeners with a sense of playfulness. Horowitz certainly serves the Scherzino marking at the

beginning of this piece justly.

Kissin plays this movement amazingly fast. The speed of the Scherzo section is

around ♩ = 200. In terms of the dynamics, Kissin adheres to what Mussorgsky wrote in

the music. Kissin makes a slight crescendo and diminuendo during the ascending scale

pattern in measures 13 to 16, but it is discreetly applied for shaping the four measures

into 2 + 2 melodic phrases—see Example D.

34 Example D:

The Trio section is carried out according to the original manuscript, except that Kissin

slows the tempo slightly. He maintains the ppp dynamic marking throughout, and unlike

Horowitz, only places the trills on the soprano notes. The accented right-hand notes on the second half of the Trio section are given some emphasis, but the dynamic level is still maintained at the ppp range. The duration of Kissin’s performance is only 1 minute and 5 seconds, while Horowitz’s is 1 minute and 18 seconds.

“Samuel” Goldenberg and “Schmuÿle”—Andante. Grave energico.

The original title of this movement has long been debated. Musicologist Paul

Lamm who edited Pictures in 1931 gave this movement the title, Two Polish Jews, One

Rich, the Other Poor, which was derived from Stasov’s program notes—“Two Jews: rich

and poor.” Through the facsimile of Mussorgsky’s original manuscript (of Pictures) published in 1975, we can now be certain that Mussorgsky’s intended title for this movement is “Samuel” Goldenberg and “Schmuÿle.” Although the original drawing for this movement has disappeared, musicologists were able to locate two drawings of

Hartmann that might share the same characteristics with the original one. Below are the watercolors of a poor and rich Polish Jew:

35

Rimsky-Korsakov’s metronome marking for this movement is ♩ = 48. The musical form for this piece is ternary with a coda in the last four measures. The middle section (measures 9 to 14) is written in the Andantino tempo. When the A section returns in measure 15, the tempo is changed back to Andante grave.

Horowitz adds to the monophonic texture of the melody in the first eight measures, a lower octave note (in the left hand). He employs a slight rubato in this section, but the main rhythmic pulse remains undistorted. The pedal point of D-flat in the

36 B section is played two octaves lower than what is written. The thirty-second notes on the

downbeats in measures 13 and 14 are played as though they were written as sixty-fourth

notes. Horowitz also adds a quick appoggiatura note to the first D-flat notes on each beat

in the right hand throughout the second A section (measures 15 to 21)—see Example E.

Example E:

The coda is marked poco ritardando, but Horowitz seems to play it molto ritardando. In many recordings and editions of this suite, the last triplet notes in the penultimate measure are often changed from C—D-flat—B-flat to C—D-flat—C, perhaps due to the influence of the Ravel’s orchestration, but surprisingly, Horowitz follows Mussorgsky’s original intention.

Kissin’s interpretation at the beginning of this movement is full of immense rubato. One can hardly feel the rhythmic pulse throughout the first A section. Kissin slows down or seems to create a hesitation in many of the succession of the sixteenth and thirty-second notes. Not until the B section is the 4/4 meter finally perceived. Like

Horowitz, Kissin treats the thirty-second notes on the downbeats of measures 13 and 14 as though they were written as sixty-fourth notes. When the A section returns in measures

15 to 21, Kissin agitates the speed slightly, though it is marked Andante grave. The coda is played with a molto ritardando (similar with that of Horowitz’s) as opposed to a poco ritardando. Kissin’s big and distinct ending of this movement seem to fit the description

Michael Russ wrote in his book, Musorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition: “Goldenberg, a

37 nasty, wily and mean character, gives nothing to Schmuÿle, simply sending him off with a flea in his ear.”46

Promenade—Allegro giusto, nel modo russico, poco sostenuto.

The metronome marking is ♩ = 104. Just as in the Ravel’s orchestration of

Pictures, Horowitz eliminates this movement in his recording. Kissin’s interpretation of

this intermezzo is similar to that of the opening Promenade. In his recording, both the

Promenades are played at the same duration of one minute and sixteen seconds.

Limoges, The Market Place—Allegretto vivo, sempre scherzando.

The metronome marking of Rimsky-Korsakov for this movement is ♩ = 120.

“Frenchwomen furiously disputing in the market place.” Attempting to give a clearer

narrative description, other than the title of the movement, Mussorgsky inserted two notes

in French. The first one is:

“Great news! Monsieur de Panta Pantaleon has just recovered his cows, The Fugitive. ‘Yes ma’am, that was yesterday.’ ‘No ma’am, that was day before yesterday.’ ‘Oh, yes, ma’am, the beast roamed all over the neighborhood.’ ‘Oh, no, ma’am, the beast never got loose at all.’”

The second note is:

“Great news! Monsieur de Puissangeot has just recovered his cow, The Fugitive. But the good gossips of Limoges are not totally agreed about this because Mme. De Remboursac has just acquired a beautiful new set of false teeth whereas Monsieur de Panta-Pantaleon’s nose, which is in his way, remains always the color of a peony.”47

46 Michael Russ, Musorgsky, 44. 47 Both notes are taken from Alfred Frankenstein, , “Victor Hartmann”: 286.

38 Although both notes were later scratched out by Mussorgsky, it is interesting to notice that they hardly depict any Frenchwomen furiously disputing in the Limoges market place as described in the program notes by Stasov.48 In performing this movement, many pianists take into account the idea from Stasov’s description, thus this piece is often played “clatteringly,” like a toccata.49 Of this movement, Russ wrote, “This is one of the most difficult pieces in the set, yet it is also the most pianistic.”50 This movement is written in a conventional ternary form—A section (mm. 1 to 12)-B section (mm. 12 to

26)-A section (mm. 27 to 36)-coda (mm. 37 to 40). The tempo changes to Meno mosso, sempre capriccioso at the coda. In measure 40, Mussorgsky wrote a poco accelerando and an attacca to the next movement.

Horowitz performs this movement in a slightly slower speed than that of Rimsky-

Korsakov’s. It is around ♩ = 104. Horowitz maintains the speed consistently in this movement, except in the middle of the B section (mm. 20-26) where he accelerates the speed tremendously before returning to the a tempo in measure 27.

The major change that Horowitz employs in this movement is that of moving some notes or chords to an octave higher or lower than what Mussorgsky originally wrote. An example of such is found in measure 2 on the sforzando diad of G and B-flat in the left hand. Horowitz plays the diad at an octave lower than written. He applies this change when the same sf diad occurs again in measures 4, 9, and 29. Throughout the B section, many of the two sixteenth-note diads (with an interval of either diminished third or major second) in the right hand are also played at an octave higher than written. These

48 Ibid., 286. 49 Ates Orga, Mussorgsky, 36. 50 Michael Russ, Musorgsky, 45.

39 diads are the G-sharp and B-flat on the third beat in measure 12; the A-sharp and C on the

third beat in measure 14; the A-flat and B-flat on the second beat in measure 21; and the

G-sharp and B-flat on the second beat in measures 22 and 23. Horowitz applies this

change again when the major second diad of A-flat and B-flat appears in measures 33 to

35 in the right hand. He also creates a doubling at an octave higher of the repeated

sixteenth-note of D in the right hand in measures 25 and 26—see Example F. Perhaps,

influenced by Rimsky-Korsakov’s 1886 edition and Ravel’s orchestration, Horowitz

substitutes the first four sixteenth-notes of D and F with E-flat and G in the left hand at

the beginning of measure 27.

Example F:

Horowitz follows almost all the dynamic markings that Mussorgsky wrote, except in the coda. Mussorgsky placed a fortissimo dynamic marking in the beginning of the four-measure coda, but Horowitz begins the section at a softer dynamic level. The volume of the sound constantly changes according to the left-hand melodic pattern, i.e., a crescendo will be applied in an ascending melodic pattern, and a diminuendo in a descending melodic pattern. Finally, Horowitz generates a huge crescendo during the ascending chromatic pattern in the left hand in the last measure. This movement ends with an attacca to the next movement.

40 Kissin’s performance of this movement definitely proves him to be one of the best

pianists today. Music reviewer Jed Distler wrote of his performance: “Kissin takes a near-

breakneck yet miraculously controlled spin through the Limoges Market Place.”51

His speed is maintained throughout at the suggested metronome marking by Rimsky-

Korsakov--♩ = 120. He “faithfully” follows all the indications written by Mussorgsky,

such as the dynamics, articulations, and sforzandi. Unlike Horowitz, he plays the first four sixteenth-notes in measure 27, D and F, as Mussorgsky wrote in his original manuscript. Except in the coda, Kissin uses the damper pedal sparingly, thus all the sixteenth-note melody and repeated chords sound very articulated. The last measure, leading to the next movement, begins softer and is immediately followed by a big crescendo returning to the indicated ff dynamic marking.

Catacombae (Sepulcrum Romanum)—Largo.

Rimsky-Korsakov indicated the beginning of this movement with a metronome

marking of ♩ = 57. “Hartmann’s picture represents the artist himself looking at the

catacombs in Paris by the light of a lantern.” This movement provides a dramatic contrast

with the previous busy market place at Limoges. The painting that inspires this

movement survives. It is described as, “The interior of Paris catacombs with figures of

Hartmann, the architect Vasily Kenel, and their guide holding a lamp.”52 In this painting,

we can also see a stack of human skulls on the right side.

51 Jed Distler, Music Review for the CD, Evgeny Kissin: Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, ClassicsToday.com Review Digest for Performances by Evgeny Kissin. 52 Alfred Frankenstein, , “Victor Hartmann”: 286.

41

Almost the entire first section of this movement (measures 1 to 29) consists of dotted-half-note chords, many with fermatas over them. Drastic changes of dynamic markings occur in many places throughout this section.

Horowitz’s tempo for the first section is around the metronome marking of 46 to

the dotted half-note. The initial three fermatas seem to be ignored. Mussorgsky put a

piano dynamic marking in measure two, which is followed by a crescendo in measure

three, but Horowitz plays the first three measures at the same dynamic level—fortissimo.

He seems to once again, ignore the fermatas in measures 12 and 13. Mussorgsky indicated a melodic line between measures 15 to 21—a stem up on each note—and

Horowitz emphasizes each note with a doubling at an octave lower.

Following a forte and sforzando in measure 24, Mussorgsky immediately placed a

diminuendo which leads to a piano in measure 26. Horowitz replaces this diminuendo

with a big crescendo, along with an addition of an octave tremolo of the F# bass note

from measures 25 to 27, in order to produce a massive sound that brings this section to a climax in measure 28—Mussorgsky did put a fortissimo in measure 28. Horowitz holds

the last chord with a long fermata, as Mussorgsky indicated, until the sound dies away.

42 In performing this first section, Kissin follows closely all the indications that

Mussorgsky wrote. All aspects such as fermatas, dynamic changes, and rest indications are executed according to the original intention of the composer. Some fermatas are held

longer than the others, but Kissin clearly distinguishes between fermata notes or chords

and non-fermata ones. Unlike Horowitz, Kissin applies the quarter rest placed on the

third beat in the last measure.

After a double bar and an attacca indication in measure 29, the first section of this

movement is linked to the Con Mortuis in Lingua Mortua section. This Latin-text

section is literally translated as, “With the dead in a dead language.” In between the first

and second sections, Mussorgsky wrote a remark, “Latin text would be fine: the creative

genius of the late Hartmann leads me to the skulls and invokes them; the skulls begin to

glow.”53 The Con Mortuis section is really an extremely sad restatement of the

Promenade theme.54 The tempo for this twenty-measure section is Andante non troppo, con lamento. Mussorgsky inscribed only one dynamic marking throughout this section,

pianissimo. Toward the end (measure 15), he also wrote ritardando and perdendosi. An

octave tremolo in the high register, played by the right hand, governs the entire second

section. The left hand begins with the initial theme of the Promenade, which is written as

an imitation between chords in the treble staff and octaves in the bass staff (measures 1 to

10). Chordal writing is employed from measures 11 until 20 with the right hand

continuously playing the octave tremolo of F#. The tonality in these last ten measures

modulates from the key of B minor to B major.

53 Michael Russ, Musorgsky, 46. 54 Alfred Frankenstein, , “Victor Hartmann”: 286.

43 Throughout the Con Mortuis section, Horowitz changes the right-hand tremolo

with measured “broken” octaves—see Example G. He also eliminates the soprano note of

F# on the sixth beat (played by the left hand) in the first measure, treating the preceding

C# as a half note instead of a quarter note. A crescendo is applied from measure 5 (after

the fermata in the left hand) to third beat of measure 7, and it is immediately followed by

a diminuendo to pp. The octave tremolo of F# from measures 11 until the end is played at

an octave higher than written. Horowitz also doubles the ascending pattern of each

quarter note in measures 12, 14, and 19 with its lower octave note.

Example G:

Kissin maintains a pianissimo dynamic throughout this second section. The left hand melody “sings” eloquently over the right-hand tremolo. Unlike Horowitz, he does not create any crescendo or diminuendo. The right-hand tremolo is executed with an incredible evenness in speed and it is carried on with the same soft sound throughout.

Kissin applies the suggested ritardando and perdendosi markings in measure 15. He gradually slows down the tremolo in the last measure until it completely stops, and from this point on, the damper pedal is kept down to let the remaining resonance ring for a few seconds before abruptly continuing to the next movement.

This eighth movement is the most personal and introspective movement, reflecting the morbid side of Mussorgsky at the time he composed this suite.55

55 Michael Russ, Musorgsky, 46.

44 The Hut on Fowl’s Legs (Baba-Yaga)—Allegro con brio, feroce.

For this movement, Rimsky-Korsakov indicated a metronome marking of ♩ =

120. “Hartmann’s drawing represented a clock in the form of Baba-Yaga’s hut on fowl’s

legs. Mussorgsky has added the ride of Baba-Yaga in her mortar.” The painting that

inspired this movement survives. It is described as, “Baba-Yaga’s hut on fowl’s legs.

Clock, Russian style of the 14th century. Bronze and enamel.”56

Baba-Yaga appears in Russian tales, where she is portrayed as a witch who flies with her mortar and pestle to prey upon humans. Fascinated and inspired by the tale,

Mussorgsky ignored the clock painting and transformed the idea of Baba-Yaga’s journey through air, into music. Conventional ternary form is used in this movement, in which the outer A sections (mm. 1-94 and 123-211) describe the riding of Baba-Yaga, and the

56 Alfred Frankenstein, , “Victor Hartmann”: 287.

45 middle B section (mm. 95-122) describes the horrifying scene as the witch is about to

attack her prey.

Horowitz creates three big changes to this movement. These changes are: shifting

some octave-notes in the left hand to an octave lower (e.g., the left-hand’s octave of G’s

on the downbeat of measures 61 and 65, all the quarter-note octaves from measures 41 to

56); octave-doubling to many single notes in the left hand (e.g., the F#’s and the F’s from measures 1 to 7, and the half-notes of A and E in measure 116); and adding some notes of his own to the music (e.g., Horowitz replaces the left-hand whole-notes of A and E in measures 117-118 with descending octave quarter-notes of A-G-F-E-E flat-D-C#-C).

These changes occur mostly in the A sections.

He begins the movement with a much faster tempo than that of Rimsky-

Korsakov’s. It is around ♩ = 176. Horowitz creates a sudden soft dynamic from measures

17 to 20 with the exception of three marcato notes (A flat-A-B flat) in measures 19-20,

where he deliberately accents each of those notes. Measures 25 and 26 are certainly

played fortissimo, as indicated. A diminuendo follows from measures 27 to 32. Measures

33 to 35 are played softly. Horowitz begins a crescendo in measure 36 and from this

point on, the dynamic level stays loud until the last three measures of the A section

(measure 92).

Other than some octave-doublings and note changes mentioned above, Horowitz

follows somewhat closely all the indications that Mussorgsky intended throughout the B

section, such as the dynamics and articulations. He places a slight accent on each of the

eighth-note chords in measures 108, 109, 112, and 113.

46 When the A section returns in measure 123, he changes the first four measures of

this section (measures 123-126) to an eight-measure segment of:

The remainder of this section is played in the same manner as the previous one, except for the last chromatic ascending pattern of the sixteenth-note octaves in the left hand

(from the second beat of measures 208 to 211), where he plays them at two octaves lower than written.

Like Horowitz, Kissin performs this movement at a speed of around 176 to the quarter note. He applies a staccato articulation in the first eight measures of this movement. The tempo is maintained steadily until in measure 25 when he begins to accelerate the speed tremendously for the next seven measures. From measure 33 on, the speed is very consistent, and Kissin certainly applies a big and rich sound to each of the sforzando and marcato notes. He makes a diminuendo and a slight ritardando from measure 85 until the end of the A section (measure 94).

The B section begins at a soft dynamic level, as indicated. Kissin applies a staccato articulation to the quarter-note and the eighth-note octaves in the left hand of measures 96 and 97—Mussorgsky marked non legato. Then he continues the left hand melody in measures 98 and 99 with a legato articulation. When the same melodic pattern

(in the left hand) occurs in mm. 100-103, 108-111, and 112-115, he applies the same articulations of a staccato in the first two measures and a legato in the next two measures.

Kissin treats the rhythm of the two eighth-note chords in measures 108, 109, 112, and

47 113, as though they were written in a sixteenth-note value. Furthermore, he also gives

great emphasis to these chords by playing them strongly. The B section ends quietly as

Mussorgsky intended---pianississimo.

The returning A section is played in the same style as the first one. As a

preparation for a huge ending, Kissin first creates a diminuendo from measures 187 to

196, and from measure 197, a big crescendo is employed until the end of the movement

(measure 211). This movement leads directly to the next and final movement of the suite.

The Great Gate of Kiev—Allegro alla breve, Maestoso. Con grandezza.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s metronome marking for this final movement is ♩ = 84.

“Hartmann’s drawing represented his project for a gate in the city of Kiev in the massive

old Russian style, with a cupola in the form of a Slavonic helmet.” As previously

mentioned in chapter one, Hartmann considered his design of the Great Gate of Kiev to

be the finest of all his works. The drawing is described as:

Stone city-gates for Kiev, Russian style, with a small church inside; the city council had planned to build these in 1869, in place of the wooden gates, to commemorate the event of April 4, 1866. The archway rests on granite pillars, three quarters sunk in the ground. Its head is decorated with a huge headpiece of Russian carved designs, with the Russian state eagle above the peak. To the right is a belfry in three stories with a cupola in the shape of a Slav helmet. The project was never carried out. A photograph of this drawing may be found in Hartmann’s edition of ‘Illustrations of Russian Ornament,’ Moscow, 1873.”57

Stasov, in his letter to Montagu-Nathan, further tells us that the Old Slavonic inscription on the arch of the gateway reads: “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”58

57 Alfred Frankenstein, , “Victor Hartmann”: 287. 58 Michael Russ, Musorgsky, 48.

48

In this movement, Mussorgsky arranges his musical material to give the impression of a parade passing beneath the great gate.59 The whole movement consists of four musical themes: the “Gate” theme (A), the Russian-Orthodox-hymn theme (B), the

“Bell” theme (C), and the Promenade theme (D). The overall musical form of this movement can be described as: A1 (mm. 1-29)—B1 (mm. 30-46)—A2 (mm. 47-63)—B2

(mm. 64-80)—C (mm. 81-96)—D (mm. 97-113)—A3 (mm. 114-end [174]). In the A3 section, Mussorgsky changed the tempo to Meno mosso, sempre maestoso, and in measure 162, he slowed down even more to Grave, sempre allargando.

There is no doubt that Mussorgsky must have considered this movement as the climactic movement of Pictures at an Exhibition. Horowitz must have treated this movement as the culmination of all the movements in this suite as well. He freely and deliberately displays his amazing skills of “pianostration” in his performance of this movement. He begins this movement with a big sound, as Mussorgsky indicated. In many

59 Craig Wright, Listening to Music, 4th ed. (Belmont, CA: Schirmer/Thomson, 2004), 10.

49 measures of the A1 section, Horowitz plays the left hand chords at an octave lower.

Instead of playing the pedal-point of E-flat as a grace note to the downbeat chords in

measures 22 and 23, he places the pedal-point at the second half of the measures:

In the A2 section, Horowitz creates his own version of it by changing, almost entirely, the running eighth-note octaves in the right hand (mm. 47-54) as well as those in the left hand (mm. 55-63). Unlike Ravel’s orchestration, Horowitz begins the following

B2 section with the indicated dynamic marking of fortissimo. The diminuendo marking in measure 77 is executed so effectively that the sforzando and marcato chord in measure

80 creates a drastic change in sound and mood. At this point, we are entering the so- called “Bell” theme because the alternating notes of C-flat and A-flat in the left hand certainly resemble the pealing of a church bell. Horowitz doubles each of the bass notes with its octave lower note throughout this section (measures 81 to 106) to give a bigger bell sound.

When the A section returns in measure 114, Horowitz definitely makes this climactic section sound as though the whole orchestra were being played by the piano.

He not only creates some doublings, shifting of octaves, or tremolos to all the half-note chords, but he also adds to them a lot of notes of his own. Horowitz employs continuous octave tremolos of an E-flat bass note in the Grave section beginning in measure 162 until the end. The right hand also plays a continuous repeated pattern of E flat-D-E flat

50 octaves in the last five measures in addition to all the chords that Mussorgsky wrote—see

the example below:

Upon hearing Kissin’s performance of this movement, one is left with a great amazement that he is very “loyal” to the composer’s original score. Even when most pianists are tempted, at least, to transform the two half-note octaves of E-flat in measures

170 and 171 into octave tremolos, Kissin plays them as written.

If we need to be overcritical by searching for places where Kissin does not quite follow the composer’s intentions, then those places will be in the B sections. Like

Horowitz, Kissin slows down slightly each time he plays these hymn-like sections. This natural inclination might again be derived from Ravel’s orchestration of the suite.

51 One cannot agree more with Jed Distler’s comment on Kissin’s performance of this movement: “He [Kissin] projects the Great Gate at Kiev’s rolling grandeur with

dignified poise and poetry.”60

60 Jed Distler, Music Review for the CD, Evgeny Kissin, ClassicsToday.com.

52 CHAPTER 4

Conclusion

It has long been debated among pianists whether or not Pictures at an Exhibition

should be performed “strictly” according to Mussorgsky’s original intentions. Many

pianists would make few or even numerous changes in the hope to, presumably,

“improve” the general presentation of the suite. Others, on the contrary, would follow

“faithfully” what Mussorgsky wrote, because they believe that Mussorgsky clearly knew

how this suite should sound. After all, as mentioned in chapter one, Mussorgsky was a phenomenal pianist in his own right.

Currently, there are as many as twenty-three orchestral arrangements of Pictures,

beginning with Mikhail Tushmalov’s in 1886, and followed by others such as: Henry

Wood’s in 1915, the most famous orchestration by Maurice Ravel in 1922, Leopold

Stokowski’s in 1938, Zdenek Macal’s in 1977, Vladimir Ashkenazy’s in 1982, and Julian

Yu’s in 2002, among others. The influences of these orchestral arrangements have

undoubtedly affected pianists in performing the piece, as well as general audiences in

listening to the interpretations of it.

Frank Weinstock, a concert pianist and piano professor at the College-

Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, has performed Pictures at an

Exhibition over twenty times. He firmly believes that adhering closely to Mussorgsky’s

original writing is very important. According to him, the famous orchestration by Ravel almost performs a disservice to the suite, as magnificent a piece as it is in its own right.

Weinstock also states that Ravel, in his orchestral arrangement, makes Pictures sound so

53 refined that it loses the raw energy that the piece possesses. Although Weinstock is very

familiar with Ravel’s orchestration, he tries not to incorporate it in his performance of the

suite, except for The Old Castle and the Bydlo movements. Imagining the saxophone

sound in The Old Castle and the tuba sound in the Bydlo does help him in creating more

drama for the movements.

Weinstock concludes that Mussorgsky’s original piano version is much more

exciting than any existing orchestral versions. Pianists should respect the original plan

that Mussorgsky had for the suite. During the last quarter of the twentieth century, many

music publishing companies have released the urtext edition of Pictures, and the one

published by Schott provides a good guidance for pianists who intend to follow

Mussorgsky’s original writing.

Dr. Jason Kwak, a piano professor at the Texas A&M University at Kingsville,

Texas, is another pianist who has performed Pictures extensively in solo recitals as well

as lecture recitals. Unlike Weinstock, Kwak takes a more liberal approach in performing

the suite. Influenced greatly by Ravel’s orchestration, he would, for instance, begin the

Bydlo movement with a soft dynamic, rather than the written fortissimo. Kwak also adds

some octave tremolos to the bass notes in the left hand during the last section (Grave,

sempre allargando) of The Great Gate of Kiev to create a fuller sonority. Being

immensely influenced by Ravel’s orchestration, Kwak states that pianists need to inject

some musical ideas from the orchestration in order to enhance the overall sound of the

suite. Such ideas can be that of the dynamics, the tempos, and the articulations. For example, Mussorgsky placed only one dynamic marking (forte) in the beginning of the

first and fifth Promenades. To perform these movements more interestingly, Kwak claims

54 that pianists should apply the dynamic changes that Ravel created in his orchestration, i.e.

having a softer dynamic in measure 9 and gradually building up to a forte toward the end.

In general, he believes that Ravel’s orchestral arrangement does provide good insights for pianists in interpreting the suite.

Both Weinstock and Kwak agree that there is no absolute, “correct” way of

performing Pictures at an Exhibition. Whether or not changes and/or additions should be

made to Pictures is completely up to each pianist. While practicing the suite, pianists

should be aware of aspects such as the historical background of the nationalistic Russian

music in the nineteenth century, the musical composition traits of Mussorgsky, and the

relationship between Hartmann’s paintings and Pictures. One can freely decide whether

Pictures at an Exhibition should be played “eccentrically” or “academically.” Ultimately,

a performance is considered successful when it is presented in a convincing manner and when the performer clearly conveys the message from the composer to the listeners.

55 Bibliography

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Brook, Donald. Six Great Russian Composers: Glinka, Borodin, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Scriabin; Their Lives and Works. Freeport, New York: Libraries Press, 1970.

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______. Musorgsky: His Life and Works. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Calvocoressi, Michael D. Musorgsky: The Russian Musical Nationalist. Translated by A. Eaglefield Hull. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1919.

______. Modest Mussorgsky: His Life and Works. London: Rockliff Publishing Corporation, 1956.

______. Mussorgsky. Completed & revised by Gerald Abraham. Revised ed. London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1974.

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______. Remembering Horowitz: 125 Pianists Recall a Legend. New York: Schirmer Books, 1993.

______. The Art of the Piano: Its Performers, Literature, and Recordings. 2nd Ed. New York: A Harvest Book, Harcourt Brace & Company, 1995.

56 ______. Reflections from the Keyboard: the World of the Concert Pianist. 2nd Ed. New York: Schirmer Books, 1997.

Emerson, Caryl. The Life of Musorgsky. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Frankenstein, Alfred. “Victor Hartman and Modeste Musorgsky.” Musical Quarterly 25 (1939): 268-91.

Gutmann, P. “Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.” Goldmine 28 (July 26, 2002): 28.

Johnson, L.A., and M. Anderson. “Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Boris Godunov; Khovanshchina; Sorochintsy Fair.” Fanfare 21 (May-June 1998): 171- 173. Kirby, F. E. Music for Piano: A Short History. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press, 1995.

Klein, Jason. “Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’: A Comparative Analysis of Several Orchestrations.” DMA diss., Stanford University, 1980.

Lee, Chen-Tien. “Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition: An Analytical and Performance Study.” DMA doc., Ohio State University, 1993.

Leonard, Richard Anthony. A History of Russian Music. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1957.

Leyda, Jay, and Sergei Bertensson, eds. The Musorgsky Reader: A Life of Modeste Petrovich Musorgsky in Letters and Documents. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1947.

Commentary of Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition by Evgeny Kissin, by Tom Manoff. NPR’s All Things Considered, 18 June 2002.

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Montagu-Nathan, M. A History of Russian Music. 2nd ed. New York: Biblo & Tannen Booksellers and Publishers, Inc., 1969.

Mussorgsky, Modeste. Pictures at and Exhibition for Piano. New York: International Music Company, 1952.

______. Kartinki s vystavki (Pictures from an Exhibition). Facsimile of the original manuscript at the Manuscripts Department of the Saltykov-Shchedrin Public Library in Leningrad. Moskva: Muzyka, 1975.

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57 Orlova, Aleksandra Anatolevna. Musorgsky’s Days and Works: A Biography in Documents. Translated and edited by Roy J. Guenther. Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1983.

______, ed. Musorgsky Remembered. Translated by Véronique Zaytzeff and Frederick Morrison. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1991.

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58 Discography

Mussorgsky, Modeste. Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition. Performed by Vladimir Horowitz. BMG Music, 9026-60526-2, 1992. Compact Disc.

______. Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition. Performed by Evgeny Kissin. RCA Victor Group, 09026-63884-2, 2002. Compact Disc.

59