Night on a Bare Mountain and Pictures at an Exhibition are firm favourites in the classical repertoire but, like many of Mussorgsky’s famous works, they are rarely performed as he wrote them. This programme, filmed on location in Russia, examines why his genius has been so obscured. It focuses on the detective work undertaken by the Singer Yevgeny Nesterenko, and the British conductor, David Lloyd-Jones, to uncover the details of the life and work of Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881).
Leif Ove Andsnes plays Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition
Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition were inspired by artworks by his late friend Hartmann, but they’ve inspired many other artists in turn. In 2009, the Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes – a musician who has never been afraid to do his own thing – collaborated with the South African visual artist Robin Rhode to re-imagine Mussorgsky’s masterpiece. Rhode’s arresting video images accompany a live performance of Pictures at an Exhibition, given by Andsnes in a shipyard building at the extraordinary Risør Festival in southern Norway – a compelling, wholly original fusion of sight, sound and place, and a refreshingly personal take on a much-loved classic.
Odeonsplatz Concert 2017: Gergiev & Wang
Munich’s Odeonsplatz Concert is one of the open-air highlights of the year. The magnificent Residenz Palace on one side and the serene, towering Theatinerkirche on the other provide the ideal backdrop for exceptional performances of classical music. In this setting, Chinese star pianist Yuja Wang, Valery Gergiev and the Münchner Philharmoniker present a popular yet demanding concert programme. Wang performs Brahms’s First Piano Concerto “with vertiginous virtuosity, somnambulistic sovereignty, a fine sense of dramaturgy and rhythmic perfection” (Münchner Merkur). With “a secure sense for creating effects without gimmickry” (Süddeutsche Zeitung), Gergiev conducts Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, before closing with popular encores from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila. PROGRAM: Brahms: First Piano Concerto; Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition