Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: The Tale of Tsar Saltan – Suite, Op. 57
Rimsky-Korsakov began writing this four-act musical opera based on Pushkin’s work in 1899, on the centenary of Pushkin’s birth. The piece was premiered in Moscow in 1900. One of the most captivating and popular parts of the work is the character piece entitled ‘The Flight of the Bumblebee,’ which can be heard in a wide variety of transcriptions. This very passage, however, does not appear in the suite compiled by the composer in 1903. The three orchestral tableaux of the suite each depict one moment from the story, and even if these moments are important parts of the plot, they are not shown on stage.
Modest Mussorgsky: Songs and Dances of Death
As Hungarian music instructor and researcher Márta Papp writes: “The series entitled ‘The Songs and Dances of Death’ is deeply rooted in the great traditions of 19th century Romantic art. The piece organically fits into the line of Romantic death poetry’s musical expression, which began with Schubert and Glinka and continued through Mahler and Shostakovich. In terms of genre, this composition belongs to the ballads so widespread in German and Russian literature and later also in music. These ballads contain tragic, dramatically eventful and mainly pictorial narratives. The meticulous visual representation of the story is particularly characteristic of the first and the last movements of the cycle entitled ‘Lullaby’ and ‘Field Marshal,’ respectively. Notably, what distinguishes Mussorgsky’s songs from their Russian and Western European contemporaries is his subtle irony in the depictions of the figure of Death in all four of his compositions.”
Modest Mussorgsky – Maurice Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition
Modest Mussorgsky’s composition entitled ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ (1874) is one of the most popular works in piano literature. Each movement of the composition is a character piece: a virtuoso and precise sketch of the situations and figures portrayed through almost only one single stroke of the musical brush. We can truly feel that Mussorgsky’s music always captures the lively and essential reality of things. But the composer does not merely present scenes from life: in the last third of the cycle, he guides us into the realm of the dead, and as a finale the Great Gate of Kiev stands in front of us as the entrance to the heavenly world. Several composers have made orchestral transcriptions of this piano piece including Russian Mikhail Tushmalov (premiered in 1891) and English Henry Wood (1915), but none of them could surpass the originality, boldness and inventiveness of Ravel’s orchestration (1922). Some of the French composer’s solutions are quite ingenious, therefore it is not surprising that for many people Ravel’s unique musical sound is inseparably linked to Mussorgsky’s music. Ravel was requested by Serge Koussevitzky to prepare the orchestral version, and it was also Koussevitzky who premiered the work in Paris. Ravel’s version became particularly popular after 1930, when Koussevitzky recorded the music working with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The Vienna Philharmonic’s guest performance in Budapest provided the first opportunity for audiences to listen to the version with Ravel’s instrumentation. On this occasion in March 1931, the Vienna Philharmonic was conducted by Clemens Kraus. One contemporary report writes: “Until now, we had only heard this brilliant work by the Russian composer in its original form, performed on the piano. This concert marks the Budapest-based premiere of Ravel’s orchestral arrangement. In fact, the French modernist musician not simply orchestrated this ill-fated Russian masterpiece but actually rewrote it for orchestra. He has made the piece more colourful, more complete, fuller, and more comprehensive. On this occasion, this could be felt so keenly and in full depth because it was the Vienna Philharmonic who were premiering this new work. Our audience in Budapest celebrated the orchestra and its conductor with rapturous applause.” Two weeks later the Philharmonic Society Orchestra conducted by Ernő Dohnányi also performed the piece in Hungary.