Whygold’s Weekend
… under this motto I present you my music tip for the weekend.
Maybe one or the other discovers something new.
Consciously listening to music is, in my opinion, as important as reading a good book.
Today: Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
Ravel: Rapsodie Espagnole, La Valse
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nrFeI8otsK84Guhu2Qe4-I3yV0JEJirOQ
Pictures at an Exhibition(Russian “Картинки с выставки” – Воспоминание о Викторе Гартмане, transcribed Kartinki s vystawki – vospominanije o Wiktore Gartmane) is a piano cycle by Modest Mussorgsky from 1874, which is seen as a prime example of program music.
The individual movements describe paintings and drawings by his friend Viktor Hartmann, who had died the year before, which Mussorgsky had seen at a memorial exhibition. The work was created at the suggestion of a mutual friend, art critic Vladimir Stasov. He was also involved in naming the pieces and the cycle was dedicated to him.
The richness of the tonal colors inspired other composers early on to arrange the work for orchestra and other instrumental ensembles as well. The most famous arrangement is the one by Maurice Ravel.
Rapsodie espagnole
is an orchestral rhapsody by Maurice Ravel. Composed between 1907 and 1908, Rapsodie is one of Ravel’s first major works for orchestra. It was first performed in Paris in 1908 and quickly entered the international repertoire. The piece draws on the composer’s Spanish heritage and is one of several of his works set in or reflecting Spain.
La Valse – Poème chorégraphique pour Orchestre is a work by Maurice Ravel composed between 1906 and 1920.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Of course, it is also worth listening to the original piano version of Pictures at an Exhibition, or even comparing it.
In Rapsodie espagnole, I find the sighing string motif in the IV movement particularly fascinating.
Have fun listening to this album !
Your Chris Weigold
P.S.: Maybe you enjoy the listening pleasure together with a glass of wine from our “Orchester der Kulturen Edition”.