RCA Living Stereo CD Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition Night On Bald Mountain

Description: ****Welcome to our listing, thanks very much for looking!In addition to his symphonies, Tchaikovsky wrote four works of symphonic dimensions under the title suite. Because the title implies a less rigorous or serious composition, these brilliant works are unjustly neglected. All but the last of them began as a project for a symphony. But when they grew to works having more than four movements, with a predominance of dance-like music, Tchaikovsky designated them suites. The first of these was begun at the same time the composer was writing the opera The Maid of Orleans. The original version was in four movements, which did not satisfy Tchaikovsky. The next year he returned to the shelved score, and added two movements. The score is written for a large orchestra and includes some of Tchaikovsky's most striking orchestration. The first movement, "Introduzione e fuga" is an evocation of older works in this style. The formality of the fugue form might be thought to be at odds with Tchaikovsky's passionate, rhapsodic style, but when the fugue culminates, Tchaikovsky has managed to work it up into a powerful setting with horns playing a slowed-down proclamatory version of the main theme while strings and winds continue their rushing music. Then the music relaxes charmingly to conclude with clarinets and bassoons. The second movement, "Divertissement," is based on three themes, two of which are waltz-like in mood while the middle of them is faster. Woodwind solos are plentiful in this music, strongly reminiscent of dances in Tchaikovsky ballets. The third movement, "Intermezzo," begins with a sorrowful theme, which alternates with a more radiant second theme in a lower register. The fourth movement is entitled "Marche miniature," a title he would reuse in The Nutcracker. It is witty and charming, rather similar in mood to its famous ballet counterpart. Incidentally, Tchaikovsky had doubts about this movement and had to be convinced by persistent arguments to retain it. From the premiere onwards it has been one of the best-received parts of the score. The fifth movement, "Scherzo," is swift, brilliant, and folk-like, showcasing the composer's great skill at creating fine melodies. The finale is a "Gavotte." Even in the context of this restrained eighteenth century dance Tchaikovsky deploys some of his most vivid orchestration to bring the work to an effective close. - Joseph Stevenson Alexander Borodin was a chemist by profession, but is more readily remembered as among the finest of nineteenth century Russian composers. Borodin's dual life prevented him from completing a number of important musical works, among them the opera Prince Igor. The composer labored on the score (and text) intermittently for nearly 20 years, intending to create a great historical tableau based on an ancient ballad about a hero in Russia's struggles against the tribes of Central Asia. The Polovtsy tribe took Igor prisoner for a time, and this episode provides much of the dramatic impetus for the opera. Prince Igor -- later completed by Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov, and others -- remains one of the most important works in the history of Russian opera, though it is only rarely staged outside of its native land. Various reconstructions of Borodin's original intentions have been made, and the vast dimensions of the work pose problems. The work combines influences from French grand opera (rarely staged much anymore either) with, especially in its depiction of the "exotic" Polovtsy, the typically Russian harmonic daring also associated with Mussorgsky. The most famous music from the opera is a set of dances, the Polovtsian Dances, that accompany a banquet put on by the Khan of the Polovtsy. These are overwhelmingly brilliant and irresistibly barbaric in the best Romantic crowd-pleasing manner, particularly when performed with the original choral parts. The Dances gained an unexpected popular currency when one of the more memorable tunes was transformed into the song "Stranger in Paradise" as part of the Broadway musical Kismet (1953). - Joseph Stevenson Dmitri Kabalevsky rocketed to public attention nearly as quickly as his namesake and near contemporary Dmitri Shostakovich. Although his ascent began a few years later, in the early 1930s he wrote three symphonies and his Second Piano Concertoand became the senior editor of the official state music publishing organization. After the string of successes already mentioned, he decided to write an opera on the subject of Colas Breugnon, a novel by Romain Rolland. The title character is a sculptor in a Burgundian town, at odds with the corrupt duke of the town and hence a generally revolutionary figure. The story is, ultimately, tragic, but you wouldn't know it from the bustling overture, which became an international favorite, especially after Arturo Toscanini took it up. The other three movements of the suite, "A Folk Festival," "The Plague," and "The Mutiny" illustrate the great variety of emotion and color in the opera, which has never gained a spot outside its Russian homeland. There were some official criticisms of the plot, and a need to revise the opera to rid it of compulsory Soviet elements; the opera was mildly revised in 1953, and revised thoroughly enough in 1969 to be given a new opus number, 90. However, the standard version of the suite is drawn from the original version. - Joseph Stevenson Fritz Reiner was a legend among conductors. Universally admired for his music-making, widely disliked for his aggressive and exacting temperament, and survived by a legacy of definitive recorded performances, he was largely responsible for the artistic ascendancy of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and exerted considerable influence on generations of musicians. Born in Budapest in 1888, he studied piano with his mother and, at the age of 15, entered the Franz Liszt Academy -- an institution that also boasts Bela Bartók, Zoltan Kodály, Ernst von Dohnányi, George Szell, Eugene Ormandy, Georg Solti and Antal Dorati as graduates. Reiner gained conducting experience at a number of regional opera houses before eventually returning to Budapest in 1911 to serve at the city's Volksoper, where his reputation as a conductor of special abilities finally emerged. In 1914 Reiner accepted a position at the Dresden Court Opera, where he formed a fortuitous relationship with both the conductor Arthur Nikisch and the composer Richard Strauss; Reiner would eventually give the German premier of Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten, and would remain a devoted interpreter of the composer's works throughout his career. The economic chaos and emergent anti-Semitism that followed the First World War made Reiner anxious to leave Europe, and an invitation (in 1921) to become the music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra provided just the right opportunity. From that point onward, Reiner's career was firmly rooted in the United States, where he became a citizen in 1928. After resigning his post at Cincinnati Reiner became a professor of conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where his students included both the young Leonard Bernstein and Lukas Foss; Bernstein, in particular, credited Reiner with a great deal of influence in his development. In 1938 he became the director of the Pittsburgh Symphony -- one of several positions that established Reiner as a fine builder of orchestras, with a talent for steering ensembles toward new levels of quality and success. A number of Reiner's well-known recordings stem from his tenure there. Guest appearances during his Pittsburgh years include those at Covent Garden and the San Francisco Symphony. From Pittsburgh he moved to the Metropolitan opera, where he remained on the conductor roster until 1953; his advocacy of Strauss' operas was especially strong there, and his performances of Salome and Elektra number among the most memorable evenings in the Met's history. 1953 was a watershed year for Reiner, since it was then that he assumed the directorship of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. This was to become his signature partnership, and the position that would establish his lasting legacy. His relationship with the orchestra was never a smooth one -- he was known for hostility and impatience in rehearsal, and for firing musicians for mistakes in concerts -- but he undeniably raised the ensemble from its status as a good American orchestra to that of one of the finest in the world. Unlike a number of other prominent conductors who excelled in narrow corners of the musical canon, Reiner maintained his excellent standards and clarifying precision throughout an especially broad repertory that crossed boundaries of nationality and style. He was as renowned for his performances of new works, such as Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra -- a piece that Reiner himself commissioned from the dying composer -- and Alan Hovhaness' Mysterious Mountain as he was for his Mahler, Strauss and Haydn. His tenure in Chicago also resulted in what was then an unprecedented volume of fine recordings, some of which still remain as favorites, despite the improved fidelity of modern competitors. Reiner resigned from Chicago in 1962 (after only nine seasons), and died the following year of heart failure. - Allen Schrott The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is one of the three most acclaimed orchestras in America and one of the few serious rivals the New York Philharmonic has had in its long history. Curiously, the histories of the two orchestras are somewhat intermingled. Theodore Thomas had organized and led orchestras in New York during the 1870s and 1880s, competing with the Philharmonic Society of New York for audiences, soloists, and American premieres of works. His orchestra did very well as a major rival to the orchestra that would become the New York Philharmonic. The orchestra visited Chicago during several seasons, and it was intended that he would be music director of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in that city. However, in 1891 he abandoned New York entirely in favor of Chicago and arrived as the first conductor of what was then called the Chicago Orchestra. Thomas held that position until his death in 1905. In his honor, the Chicago Orchestra changed its name to the Theodore Thomas Orchestra in 1906. Six years later, the orchestra was renamed the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. It was under the leadership of Thomas' assistant, Frederick Stock, that the Chicago Symphony's modern reputation was formed. From 1905 until his death in 1942, Stock led the orchestra in decades of programs that featured not only the established classics but the American premieres of many post-romantic works. Additionally, Stock raised the level of performing and the financial status of his players and established the orchestra in a major teaching role for aspiring musicians in its home city. Its recordings were relatively few in number, because the long-playing record -- central to the appreciation of classical music -- had not yet been invented, which means there is little evidence by which modern listeners can judge the work of the orchestra during this period, but some of the recordings from that era were among the best in the world at the time. Among the few available from the period on major labels are the Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos. 4 and 5 on the BMG label, featuring soloist Arthur Schnabel with Stock conducting. Stock's death in 1942 precipitated a difficult decade for the orchestra. Apart from the general complications of World War II, it had a great deal of trouble finding acceptable leadership. Désiré Defauw lasted for only four years, from 1943 until 1947, and Artur Rodzinski (best known for his leadership of the New York Philharmonic) was in the job for only one year (1947-1948). Rafael Kubelik served three years as music director from 1950 until 1953, but his gentlemanly manner and decidedly modern, European-centered taste in music proved unsuited to the players, critics, and management -- although it was under Kubelik that the orchestra made its first successful modern recordings, for the Mercury label, many of which were reissued in the mid-'90s. Fritz Reiner became the music director of the CSO in 1953, beginning the modern renaissance and blossoming of the orchestra. Under Reiner, the orchestra's playing sharpened and tightened, achieving a clean, precise, yet rich sound that made it one of the most popular orchestras in the United States. The CSO under Reiner became established once and for all as an international-level orchestra of the first order, rivaling the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Boston Symphony. Moreover, Reiner's arrival with the orchestra coincided with its move to RCA Victor, which, in 1954, was beginning to experiment with stereo recording. With Reiner as conductor, these "Living Stereo" recordings -- characterized by vivid textures, sharp stereo separation, and microphone placement that gave the impact of a live performance -- became some of the best-selling classical albums of all time and have since been reissued numerous times on compact disc to new acclaim from critics and listeners, more than a generation removed from their original era. Reiner's death in 1963 led to another interregnum period, during which conductor Jean Martinon led the orchestra (1963-1968). In 1969, Sir Georg Solti joined the orchestra as its music director. Under Solti, the orchestra's national and international reputations soared, as did its record sales. Reiner had begun the process of cultivating the burgeoning audience for late romantic composers such as Mahler, but it was with Solti that the works of Mahler and Bruckner became standard fare in the orchestra's programs, right alongside those of Beethoven and Mozart. The playing standard achieved during Solti's tenure, in concert and recordings, was the highest in the history of the orchestra. Additionally, the orchestra under Solti began a quarter-century relationship with London Records that resulted in some of the best-sounding recordings of the era. Solti's approach to performance was very flamboyant, yet intensely serious -- even his performances of lighter opera and concert overtures strike a perfect balance between broad gestures and finely wrought detail, attributes that have made him perhaps the most admired conductor of a major American orchestra, if not the most famous (Leonard Bernstein inevitably got more headlines during the 1960s, especially with his knack for publicity). Solti was both popular and respected, and his tenure with the CSO coincided with his becoming the winner of the greatest number of Grammy Awards of any musician in history (he also recorded with orchestras in London and Vienna). Daniel Barenboim succeeded Solti and served as music director from 1991 until 2006, with Solti remaining in the post of music director emeritus. Bernard Haitink was named the orchestra's first principal conductor, holding this position from 2006 through 2010. Riccardo Muti was chosen as the tenth music director in the orchestra's history in 2010. As with other major American orchestras, the CSO found itself competing with its own history, especially where recordings are concerned. Reissues of its work under Reiner and Solti continue to sell well and are comparable or superior to the orchestra's current recordings in sound and interpretive detail. Even the early-1950s recordings under Kubelik were reissued by Mercury in the late 1990s, while RCA-BMG and some specialty collector's labels have re-released the recordings under Stock. The recordings of Solti and Reiner leading the CSO are uniformly excellent, and virtually all of them can be recommended. In 2019, the orchestra was featured on the album Riccardo Muti conducts Italian Masterworks. - Bruce Eder This listing is for a rare audiophile CD title - a USED / OPENED, in Near Mint minus overall condition CD PRESSED and ISSUED by RCA (Living Stereo series) of a highly collectible title, featuring - Mussorgsky // Fritz ReinerChicago Symphony OrchestraCD Title - Pictures At An Exhibition / A Night On Bald Mountain / (And Other Russian Showpieces)Track Listing -Pictures At An Exhibition - Composed By – Modest Mussorgsky - Orchestrated By – Maurice Ravel - 33:00 1. Promenade - 1:48 2. Gnomus - 2:34 3. Promenade - 1:06 4. Il Vecchio Castello - 4:27 5. Promenade - 0:34 6. Tuileries - 0:59 7. Bydlo - 3:26 8. Promenade - 0:44 9. Ballet Of The Chicks In Their Shells - 1:13 10. Samuel Goldenburg And Schmuyle - 2:13 11. The Marketplace At Limoges - 1:18 12. Catacombae, Sepulchrum Romanum - 1:58 13. Con Mortuis In Lingua Mortua - 1:59 14. The Hut On Fowl's Legs - 3:29 15. The Great Gate At Kiev - 5:14 16. Marche Miniature (From Suite No. 1 In D Minor, Op. 43) - Composed By – Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky - 1:4917. A Night On Bald Mountain - Composed By – Modest Mussorgsky - 10:13 18. Prince Igor: Polovtsian March - Composed By – Alexander Borodin - 4:4419. Marche Slave - Composed By – Tchaikovsky - 10:2720. Colas Breugnon, Op. 24: Overture - Composed By – Dmitri Kabalevsky - 4:4521. Russlan And Ludmilla: Overture - Composed By – Mikhail Glinka - 5:16 Performers / Credits on this CD include - • Recorded At – Orchestra Hall, Chicago • Remastered At – BMG Studios, NY • Remastered At – RCA Studios, New York • Manufactured By – BMG Music • Distributed By – BMG Music • Copyright © – BMG Music • Conductor – Fritz Reiner • Engineer [Recording] – Lewis Layton • Liner Notes – Alfred Frankenstein, Louis Biancolli • Orchestra – Chicago Symphony Orchestra • Producer – Richard Mohr • Reissue Producer – John Pfeiffer • Remastered By [Engineer] – Anthony Salvatore • Remastered By [Supervisor] – Nathaniel S. Johnson Tracks 1-15 recorded December 7, 1957. Tracks 16-21 recorded March 14, 1959. Recorded in Orchestra Hall, Chicago Digitally remastered in BMG/RCA Studios, New York City. ⓒ 1994, 1958, 1960, BMG Music. Manufactured and distributed by BMG Music, New York, NY TMK(S) ® General Electric Company, USA & BMG Music • Barcode: 090266195824 • Matrix / Runout: 09026619582 1/98 1DA6 • Mould SID Code: IFPI 7456This CD is from the RCA Living Stereo reissue series of audiophile CDs. CD catalog # 09026-61958-2CD - part of the famous RCA Living Stereo CDsCD made in the USA CD issued in 1994 The CD, JEWEL CASE AND INSERTS are all in Near MINT minus condition overall condition! The CD was play tested in our audio system and it performed perfectly. There are no serious marks on the reflective side of the disc that we could see, even under strong, white light. The pictures with this listing are of the actual item being offered. This CD is an audiophile quality pressing (any collector of fine MFSL, half speeds, direct to discs, Japanese/UK pressings etc., can attest to the difference a quality pressing can make to an audio system). Do not let this rarity slip by!

Price: 24.99 USD

Location: New York, New York

End Time: 2025-01-20T22:22:00.000Z

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