‘Music is never about things. Music just is’, Leonard Bernstein once said. Perhaps that was why Schumann decided to remove the evocative titles (‘Ruin, Triumphal Arch, Constellation’) from his Fantasie: the music has an independent existence without them. Is the same true of Pictures at an Exhibition? Mussorgsky created here something subtler and more ambivalent than Hartmann’s paintings might suggest. Alongside the dazzling virtuosity they call for, Paul Lewis’s unexpected coupling reveals the purely musical qualities of these two 19th-century masterpieces.
MODEST MUSSORGSKY [1839-1881] Pictures at an Exhibition Tableaux d'une exposition / Bilder einer Ausstellung · Promenade. Allegro giusto, nel modo russico; senza allegrezza, ma poco sostenuto I. Gnomus / The gnome / Der Gnom. Sempre vivo (3'53) · Promenade. Moderato commodo assai e con delicatezza II. Il vecchio castello / The old castle / Das alte Schloß. Andantino molto cantabile e con dolore (5'18) · Promenade. Moderato non tanto, pesamente III. Tuileries (Dispute d'enfants après jeux) / The Tuileries Gardens (Children quarrelling after playing) / Die Tuilerien. Allegretto non troppo, capriccioso (1'27) · IV. Bydlo. Sempre moderato, pesante (3'00) · Promenade. Tranquillo V. Ballet de poussins dans leurs coques / Ballet of the unhatched chicks/ Ballett der unausgeschlüpften Küken. Scherzino - Trio: Vivo leggiero (1'49) · VI. "Samuel" Goldenberg und "Schmüyle". Andante. Grave - energico (2'19) · Promenade. Allegro giusto, nel modo russico; senza allegrezza, ma poco sostenuto VII. Limoges. Le marché / The marketplace in Limoges/ Der Marktplatz von Limoges. Allegretto vivo, sempre scherzando (2'40) · VIII. Catacombae (Sepulcrum romanum) / The catacombs / Die Katakomben. Largo (2'21) · Cum mortuis in lingua morta (Promenade) / With the dead in a dead language / Mit den Toten in einer toten Sprache. Andante non troppo, con lamento IX. La cabane sur des pattes de poule (Baba Yaga)/ The hut on fowl's legs (Baba Yaga) / Die Hütte auf Hühnerfüßen (Baba-Jaga). Allegro con brio, feroce (5'19) · X. La grande porte de Kiev / The great gate of Kiev / Das Heldentor (in der alten Hauptstadt Kiew). Allegro alla breve. Maestoso. Con grandezza (5'28) ROBERT SCHUMANN [1810-1856] Fantasie op.17 in C major / Ut majeur / C-Dur · I. Durchaus phantastisch und leidenschaftlich vorzutragen (12'18) · II. Mäßig. Durchaus energisch (8'10) · III. Langsam getragen. Durchweg leise zu halten (10'24)
