Valery Gergiev – Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition, Songs and Dances of Death, Night on Bare Mountain (2015) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Valery Gergiev – Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition, Songs and Dances of Death, Night on Bare Mountain (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:08:17 minutes | 1,42 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Mariinsky

Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra celebrate Mussorgsky with the release of two of his most cherished works, ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ and ‘Night on a Bare Mountain’ (performed here in Mussorgsky’s original version). Gergiev is at his finest conducting these paragons of Mussorgsky’s work, featured alongside which are the seldom heard ‘Songs and Dances of Death’, composed during the years 1875 to 1877 and left languishing unpublished during the composer’s lifetime. One of Mussorgsky’s most powerful compositions, each song deals with death in a poetic manner reflecting experiences not uncommon in 19th century Russia: child death, death in youth, drunken misadventure and war.

Fans of Valery Gergiev and his robust interpretations of Russian classics will be enthralled by this hybrid SACD of music by Modest Mussorgsky, a 2015 release on the Mariinsky label. Recorded in direct stream digital and presented in the multichannel format, the performances by the Mariinsky Orchestra have great depth and clear separation of parts. Gergiev takes pains to give Ravel’s marvelous orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition the most transparent textures and skillfully uses dynamics and shadings of tone to heighten the timbres, especially of the low woodwinds and brass. In Songs & Dances of Death, bass Ferruccio Furlanetto sings with remarkable emotional range and a rich and resonant voice, and while the orchestra pulls back to give him center stage, it nonetheless brings across the fine details of Shostakovich’s arrangement. The concluding work is Mussorgsky’s original version of Night on Bare Mountain, which is seldom heard yet is arguably more interesting and exciting than any of the other versions available. Gergiev emphasizes the piece’s eccentricity and inspires the orchestra to play with bold colors and high energy, so the performance is a brilliant revelation of Mussorgsky’s idiosyncratic yet effective orchestration.

Tracklist:

01. Pictures at an Exhibition: I. Promenade (Orch. by Maurice Ravel)
02. Pictures at an Exhibition: II. No. 1, The Gnome (Orch. by Maurice Ravel)
03. Pictures at an Exhibition: III. Interlude, Promenade (Orch. by Maurice Ravel)
04. Pictures at an Exhibition: IV. No. 2, The Old Castle (Orch. by Maurice Ravel)
05. Pictures at an Exhibition: V. Interlude, Promenade (Orch. by Maurice Ravel)
06. Pictures at an Exhibition: VI. No. 3, Tuileries (Orch. by Maurice Ravel)
07. Pictures at an Exhibition: VII. No. 4, Cattle (Orch. by Maurice Ravel)
08. Pictures at an Exhibition: VIII. Interlude, Promenade (Orch. by Maurice Ravel)
09. Pictures at an Exhibition: IX. No. 5, The Ballet of Unhatched Chicks in their Shells (Orch. by Maurice Ravel)
10. Pictures at an Exhibition: X. No. 6, Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle (Orch. by Maurice Ravel)
11. Pictures at an Exhibition: XI. No. 7, The Market at Limoges (Orch. by Maurice Ravel)
12. Pictures at an Exhibition: XII. No. 8, Catacombs (A Roman Tomb) (Orch. by Maurice Ravel)
13. Pictures at an Exhibition: XIII. With the Dead, in a Dead Language (Orch. by Maurice Ravel)
14. Pictures at an Exhibition : IX. The Hut on Fowl’s Legs (Orch. Ravel)
15. Pictures at an Exhibition : X. The Great Gate of Kiev (Orch. Ravel)
16. Songs and Dances of Death: I. Lullaby (Orch. by Dmitri Shostakovich)
17. Songs and Dances of Death: II. Serenade (Orch. by Dmitri Shostakovich)
18. Songs and Dances of Death: III. Trepak (Orch. by Dmitri Shostakovich)
19. Songs and Dances of Death: IV. The Field Marshal (Orch. by Dmitri Shostakovich)
20. Night on Bare Mountain