Category: Musical Musings

A Picture-perfect Memorial for a Dear Friend – Pictures at an Exhibition

Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” was written as a tribute to his deceased friend, artist Victor Hartmann. The piece, composed originally for piano in 1874 and inspired by Hartmann’s art display, consists of musical representations of ten artworks, connected by a recurring ‘Promenade’ theme. Mussorgsky’s raw and self-taught musical style was less appreciated during his lifetime than after his death. His work, particularly the opera “Boris Godunov,” is now recognized as pioneering. “Pictures at an Exhibition” saw newfound fame through Maurice Ravel’s renowned orchestration in 1922, made exclusively at Serge Koussevitsky’s request. Various other arrangements have since been attempted, but Ravel’s remains the most celebrated. Live performances offer a unique experience of the piece’s power, as remembered by the author from a Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concert. Upcoming performances include one by Erie Philharmonic, alongside Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2. The author also reviews notable recordings of the composition, highlighting interpretations by The Cleveland Orchestra under Lorin Maazel and George Szell, Claudio Abbado with the Berlin Philharmonic, and a recent take by the Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra. Video performances by Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, and Sir Georg Solti with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, showcase the thrilling impact of watching the piece come to life onstage.

Francesca da Rimini – Musical Musings for Valentine’s Day

The blogger, a self-proclaimed lifelong bachelor, begins a Valentine’s Day (V-Day) post with a disdain for the holiday, yet introduces a medley of tragic romantic music as a centerpiece. The post transitions to focus on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and his musically interpreted literature, including works inspired by Shakespeare and Dante’s “Inferno.” Highlighting the tragic story of Francesca da Rimini, a noblewoman from “Inferno” who was murdered by her husband, the blogger delves into Tchaikovsky’s symphonic poem—Francesca da Rimini: Symphonic Fantasy after Dante, Op. 32. The piece has four parts, vividly depicting Francesca’s story and its infernal setting. It’s noted that Francesca’s tale inspired both Tchaikovsky and his brother, with the former creating a symphonic poem and the latter, a libretto for Rachmaninoff’s opera. The blogger passionately recounts a live performance of Tchaikovsky’s work by the Erie Philharmonic, blurring the line between the onstage story and the inclement external weather, before recommending recordings of the piece, particularly by Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic. The post concludes by encouraging live orchestral experiences and with a sly nod to Singles Awareness Day.

A Universe Unto Itself – Mahler’s 3rd Symphony

“It has almost ceased to be music; it is hardly anything but sounds of Nature. It’s eerie, the way life gradually breaks through, out of soulless, petrified matter. (I might equally well have called the movement “What The Mountain Rocks Tell Me.”) And, as this life rises from stage to stage, it takes on ever more highly developed forms: flowers, beasts, man, up to the sphere of the spirits, the “Angels.” Once again, an atmosphere of brooding summer midday heat hangs over the introduction . . . ; not a breath stirs, all life is suspended, and the sun-drenched air trembles and vibrates. I hear it in my inner ear, but how to find the right notes for it?” – Gustav Mahler