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Mussorgsky-Stokowski: Pictures at an Exhibition

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There will be pecksniffs who decry this issue of orchestral transcriptions by Leopold Stokowski. One suspects many of them will probably secretly listen to it and love it, although they wouldn't admit it publicly. It is fashionable these days to hew to the purist line about a composer's original intentions and all that. And, of course, that proscribes such crass things as richly romantic orchestrations of piano music or performances of 'opera without words,' both of which are featured here. Never mind. There are those of us who revel in these things when they are done well, and this issue is heaven-sent for us (and for the hypocrites who claim not to like such things).

Stokowski made over 200 orchestral transcriptions and they often were featured on his programs with the Philadelphia Orchestra during his tenure as its music director (1912-1938). His audiences loved them. During his lifetime he was generally the only conductor who performed them, but since his death they have been heard more often in orchestral programs and recordings. This CD was done under the auspices of the Leopold Stokowski Society. The first of the 'symphonic transcriptions' featured on this CD is Mussorgsky's 'Night on Bare Mountain' in the version made famous by its appearance in Disney's 'Fantasia.' Slightly shorter than Mussorgsky's original, it remains fairly close to Mussorgsky's own orchestration. And it is played beautifully here by José' Serebrier and the Bournemouth Symphony. Serebrier was, for a time, Stokowski's assistant during Stoky's tenure with the American Symphony Orchestra and he certainly absorbed the maestro's approach. (One wonders if he had the BSO strings use free, rather than synchronized, bowing as Stoky did with his Philadelphians.) The two of them together conducted the world premièr'e of Charles Ives's Fourth Symphony with the orchestra in 1965. Following 'Bare Mountain' is the five-minute-long Entr'acte from Mussorgky's opera, 'Khovanshchina,' a funereal orchestral interlude that accompanies the journey of the opera's hero to his execution. It is extremely in moving in the way that only Russian elegiac music can be.

Next is, for me, one of the real highlights of this disc, Stokowski's orchestral synthesis of passages from 'Boris Godunov,' the opera he had been the first to do in the US in its original Mussorgsky orchestration in 1929. It captures, in about twenty-five minutes, the dramatic arc of the opera and the orchestration is much more like that of Mussorgsky than of the then more-familiar Rimsky version.

'Boris' is followed by Stoky's orchestral transcription of 'Pictures at an Exhibition.' Of course, the most famous version is that done by Ravel at the behest of Serge Koussevitzky in 1922. Stokowski made his version in 1939 and it sounds to me more like the piano original (and more like Mussorgsky's own orchestrations of other works). It eliminates two movements -- 'Tuileries' and 'The Marketplace at Limoges'; Stokowski felt they were too 'French' and that they may have actually been written by Rimsky Korsakoff. (There is no evidence to support that notion, though.) In a word, Stokowski's 'Pictures' is more bumptious than Ravel's.

The disc is rounded out by one original Stoky piece -- 'Traditional Slavic Christmas Music' -- and orchestrations of two short Tchaikovsky pieces. The former is orchestrated as if for the organ, with sonorous basses supporting rich wind, brass and string choir chordal writing. Sumptuous! Tchaikovsky's piano piece, 'Humoresque,' Op. 10, No. 2, is a Slavic romp. Those not familiar with the piano version will nonetheless recognize the main melody because it features prominently in Stravinsky's own recasting of Tchaikovsky piano music in his ballet 'Le Baiser de la F'ée' ('The Fairy's Kiss'). Stoky gave a new title to his orchestration of Tchaikovsky's excruciatingly melancholy song, Op. 73, No. 6 (entitled 'Again, as Before, Alone' by the composer); he called it simply 'Solitude.' [The track listing on the jewel box card reverses these two pieces.]

This, then, is an entirely enjoyable outing by Serebrier and the Bournemouth. And if I'm intuiting correctly, I think there will be more issues in what could become a series of releases of Stokowski orchestrations by these forces. One hopes that will be the case.

Recommended.

TT=76:48

Scott Morrison

One of my favorite episodes of BUGS BUNNY (perhaps my only favorite, I was never a big LOONEY TOONS fan) has Bugs getting in trouble while singing the song "April Showers" in the presence of an opera star. The man finds the rabbit annoying, and Bugs being Bugs decides to get the best of him. On an evening when the buffoon is singing, Bugs dons a wig that resembles the hair style of a great conductor, a caricature of Leopold Stokowski. As soon as Bugs enters the area everyone is all a buzz because Leopold has arrived. Bugs grabs the baton and begins conducting. I was probably twelve or thirteen at the time, and I felt rather sophisticated because I knew who Leopold was other than one of the husbands of Gloria Vanderbilt.

Stokowski was one of the most famous conductors of his day, and he was a well known musical arranger as well. His day was a time when symphony orchestras had regular arrangers who transcribed famous keyboard pieces for orchestra. They somewhat fell out of fashion in the 1970's but today there seems to be a renewed interest in some of transcriptions, recognizing the contributions of the musical arrangers. This release by Naxos has some of Stokowski's arrangements of some of Mussorgsky's music as well as a few pieces by Tchaikovsky and an arrangement of Slavic Christmas music.

Overall, this is an interesting disc. The arrangement of "Night on Bald Mountain" is not as fulsome as the more familiar Rimsky-Korsakov orchestration, but the differences in the two do illustrate the interesting tidbits on the score. The same can be said for his orchestration of "Pictures at an Exhibition." The Ravel orchestration, today's performance standard, has more power, and perhaps because of its familiarity more of an appeal, but some of Stokowski's arrangements have a smoother sound which seems to be in keeping with an art gallery exhibit. His orchestral arrangement of music from BORIS GODUNOV plays like a symphonic poem and does capture the mood of the work.

Listeners will find this recording both interesting, enjoyable, and since the "Bald Mountain" arrangement is the same as the arrangement used in FANTASIA, perhaps a bit nostalgic. It will also give people a new appreciation of Mussorgsky as a composer. Maybe Naxos can release another Stokowski transcription disc with his arrangements of Bach's music.

For half the price of at least two competing labels that I know of, you can have this recording of Stokowski's most beloved transciptions. I bought this release mainly for the "Symphonic Synthesis" which Stokowski created to bring more popularity to the massive complete opera. You get 24 minutes of shimmering sound, competing with anything in the symphonic genre. In fact everything sounds great on this disc. Meastro Serebrier,(a protege and life long friend of Stokowski) the Bournemouth Symphony, and the engineers are all in top form and dedicated. It is interesting to compare the differences of the Stokowski arrangements. He comes off more horrific than Rimsky-Korsakov on "Night on Bare Mountain", just have a listen to those exagerated screeches of brass. In "Pictures" Stokowski in his own words stated he wanted to take Ravels French out of the work and give it a more Russian feel. Balance, tempo, and detail in specific passages of each picture may or may not achieve this. I do think his version is more spacious overall, and less congested in the concluding "Great Gate of Kiev". Stokowski eliminates two annoying pictures stating he didn't think the composer wrote them in the score anyway! Recall that Rimsky-Korsakov's original piano version included them. Were they genuine? Three miniature bonus works are included. Most interesting is the Stokowski composition "Tradional Slavic Christmas Music" based on Slavic themes, is brief leaving one wanting for more.

This is one of the most extraordinary recordings of the decade, as announced by Felipe Marsans in his review in Diario Las Americas. The sound of this demonstration recording is spectacular! The performances are extraordinary, inspired,
magnificent from the opening track (Night on Bold Mountain) to the unexpected final track: an "original" work by Leopold Stokowski, based on a known ancient Christmas tune. The little Tchaikovsky item is something to make the listener cry, as is the Entre'Acte from Mussorgsky's opera Khovantchina. The Boris
is a masterpiece, and the performance is incredible in every sense. The Stokowski orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition, quite different from Ravel's and more Russian and tru to the original, will blow you off the room. I can't wait for the multy-channel versions to be released, on SACD and DVD Audio.
Extraordinary!
Stephen Bradbury
Oxford, UK

Comparing the arrangements of Pictures at an Exhibition by Ravel and Stokowski is a fascinating exercise. They both seem so characteristic of the two arrangers. The cool French aesthete (though with his own hidden daemons just like Mussorgsky) paints with precision but with impressionist or even post-impressionist hues. Here is Monet, Cezanne or, in the bolder pieces, even van Gogh. The Londoner who liked to assume the persona of some sort of Slavic shaman/maestro is given to bolder, brasher colours - Kandinsky perhaps? Both are masters of the orchestra. Both remain true to the essentially Russian spirit of Mussorgsky - perhaps even more so in the case of Stokowski. Which perhaps explains why he developed the bizarre suspicion that the two 'French' pieces in the Suite - Tuileries and the Limoges Marketplace - were by Rimsky Korsakov and therefore left them out altogether. Maybe it was because Ravel had, naturally, succeeded in making them sound so French in his earlier version. For the rest, Stokowski is more than up for the grotesqueries of the Gnome, the deep Russian darkness of the catacombs, the wildness of Baba Yaga and the splendours of the Great Gate. But it is Ravel who gets closer to the heart of the old castle and Bydlo.

As for the performance, Serebrier was the Sorcerer's Apprentice, having been Stoky's assistant for some years, and he elicits truly Stokowskian sounds from the Bournemouth Symphony whose strings almost (but not quite) approach the velvety richness of the Master's Philadelphians.

The rest of their programme is equally rich fare. The orchestration of Night on the Bare Mountain, made famous in Disney's Fantasia, seems to me far superior to Rimsky Korsakov's and (un-PC though it is to say it) even to Mussorgksy's own. Serebrier rightly brings out the OTT string glissandi and biting brass. The Symphonic Synthesis of Boris is a cousin to the similar syntheses Stokowski made from Tristan and Parsifal and, like them, provides a rewarding distillation of the opera's music in purely orchestral garb. Here, Stoky seems to stay closer to Mussorgsky's original sound than Rimsky or Shostakovich. The disc ends with a trio of Beechamesque lollipops, all predictably gorgeous, especially Stokowski's own Traditional Slavic Christmas Music where his youthful experience as an organist seems to come through in the tiered orchestration.

Maybe this disc will not tax the listener's intellect overmuch, but it will provide him with enormous dollops of orchestral pleasure. And at a budget price.

The finest performance on this CD is the relatively short rendition (5:25) of the Entr'acte to Act IV of Mussorgsky's Khovanchina. It is really is moving and darkly atmospheric. But then Bamert's recording is also excellent.

I personally don't like Stokowski's arrangement of Pictures at an Exhibition all that much, much preferring the Ravel orchestration, so I will confine most of my comments to Stokowski's great Symphonic Synthesis of Boris Godunov, which really captures a good deal of the drama and color of the opera. I have long enjoyed Stokowski's own recording with the Suisse Romande Orchestra on London LP SPC 21110, despite some inner groove distortion. As far as I am concerned, almost any recording of A Night on Bare Mountain is exciting enough, if one cares to listen to it, which very often I don't, and the other works don't really interest me very much.

If I had never heard Stokowski's own recording of the Boris Godunov synthesis or more recently, that of Matthias Bamert with the BBC Philharmonic on Chandos 9445, I would be quite pleased with Serebrier's version. However, much as I hate to disagree with J. Scott Morrison, who knows much more about music than I do, I find the conducting too self conscious, very precise but not as exciting and with tempos sometimes too slow, though the recording is very good. The orchestra plays very well, and the climaxes are quite grand, but some of the magic is missing. My comments would be the same for his the performance of Pictures. So, if you are on tight budget, it's a good deal, but on the other hand, I would suggest saving up for the more expensive Chando CD with Bamert.

A good but not outstanding CD.

The orchestral suite from Boris, does not come close to give one an idea of the work. That said, I must say that I always enjoy the Stokowski arrangements, and I really eat them up. I am happy to see that they are still being played and recorded, when I recall the virulent criticisms that were the norm when they first appeared.
I was made to feel ingenuous and inferior when I read some of them. But then, being a music lover, not a musician, I enjoy Rimsky's Boris as much as the now readily available "original", and I consider this CD a great buy!.

Compare to Stokowski's own interpretation, I just wonder how Serebrier change these intense transcriptions into dull, flat, and boring experience. His speed is so mechanical, and wash a lot of drama out of the work. If you don't want to be Stokowski, fine, but remember this is Mussorgsky, not Bach-Stokowski.

Although no one can be like Stokowski himself, Bamert still trying hard to sound like Stokowski in these transcriptions. Serebrier, on the other hand, trying to offer his own view. Pitifully, he falls far behind Stokowski.

One good thing about this recording is its wonderful sound. Rozhdestvensky did show us how harsh sound can ruin Stokowski's Pictures at an Exhibition. The good sound quality here makes the Pictures at an Exhibition still a valuable viewpoint. Ironically , it is the superb recording reveal how flat the interpretaions of Boris Godunov, A Night on Bare Mountain, and Entr'acte to ActIV of Khovanshchina are.

If you don't have Stokowski's own interpretion on your collection, I would like to stop you from buying this recording because of lack of the Stoki's excitement here. If you looking for a Stoki-like modern recording of Mussorgsky-Stokowski, I would recommend Bamert on Chandos over this. However, if you already have Stoki's own interpretion, Serebrier can still offer a different viewpoint of these transcriptions.

Some additional information..
A similiar viewpoint of Stokowski's Mussorgsky can also be found in Oliver Knussen's interpretation. The DG issue with a better orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, and probabily better sound effect, too. The sound there is more tense.

Maestro Serebrier was one of Leopold Stokowski's principal disciples, and it is great fun to have these dramatic orchestral showpieces recorded in excellent sound at a low price. The Mussorgsky transcriptions include A Night on Bare Mountain, Entr'acte to Act IV of Khovanshchina, a Symphonic Synthesis of Boris Godunov, and Pictures at an Exhibition. Although I prefer the Ravel orchestration of Pictures, I must say that Stokowski's version in some ways sounds more Russian. The disc also includes a couple of short pieces by Tchaikovsky and one by Stokowski. If you are someone who enjoys listening to these sorts of sonic spectaculars, then by all means pick up this CD and enjoy the show.

For me, the most moving sequences in the original 1940 Disney film, Fantasia, were the last two. The emotional impact cames from Stokowski's exquisite meld of the dawn sequence from Mussorgsky's Night On Bald Mountain (it was "bald" then and is mostly "bare" now)with Schubert's Ave Maria. That's always been my favorite part of the film, since I first saw it in 1948.

I listened once to the new Serebrier rendition of the Stokowski arrangement of Mussorgsky's Night On Bald Mountain and immediately knew that there was something missing, besides the chorus in the dawn sequence and the Schubert music.

I decided to dig out an ancient LP copy of Fantasia and do a side-by-side comparison. Unfortunately, except for the much-improved sound quality, the newer performance did not stand up very well in comparison to Stokowski's 1939 original. The Stokowski rendition was far more exciting or "hair-raising". The main difference is that Sereberer apparently conducts the notes the way they are written and lacks the context provided by the film. It's unfortunate that he did not choose to record the entire sequence, the way that it was scored for the film. I think that, had he done so, this would have put the Mussorgsky music more into perspective. Though Stokowski recorded all or some of the other music, I did not have these performances readily available for comparison.

The remainder of the pieces stand on their own pretty well. However, I was a little disappointed with Serebrier's somewhat tame reading of the final movement from Mussorgy / Stokowski Pictures At Exhibition -- "The Great Gate of Kiev". Again, I'm comparing this to my memory of a recording made on the old London Phase Four label by the master himself. I prefer this arrangement of this movement to the standard by Ravel.

The more rarely performed Tchaikovsky pieces and the Slavic Christmas Music are done very nicely.

On the whole, though all the performances on this recording are quite listenable, the more exciting pieces lack the flare and finesse that Leopold Stokowski would have given them. Sereberer's approach, for the most part is too subdued.

The orchestral performance and the sound quality are both excellent.

Last words -- I could really choke Serebrier and the producer for not recording the complete Mussorgsky/Schubert Fantasia sequence! I'm sure that Classical Music lovers and three generations of movie-goers / video-watchers would appreciate a better sounding recording of that truly inspired arrangement.

Tim O'Hanlon