Great Composers in Words & Music: Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky

Featuring

Nicholas Boulton
Dmitri Kitajenko
Alexey Kovalev
Anthony Bramall
Athanas Margaritov
Konstantin Chudovsky

Dénes Várjon
Giacomo Scinardo
Pavlina Dokovska
Hrisimir Damyanov
Daniel Demyanov
Vladislav Sulimsky
Mikhail Svetlov
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
Sofia National Opera Orchestra
USSR State Radio and TV Symphony Orchestra
Davinia Caddy

Did you know?

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Despite his bold compositional intentions for his opera Marriage, Mussorgsky later called it a 'preparatory exercise' and 'an experiment in dramatic music in prose'.

Composer Biography

Modest Mussorgsky, the composer featured on this album, was born into a wealthy, land-owning family in the provincial town of Karevo, Russia.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Mussorgsky described his tone-poem Night on Bald Mountain as 'Russian and original…hot and chaotic'.

Album & Artwork

The cover art for this album features a portrait of Modest Mussorgsky by Ilya Repin, a Russian realist painter.

Composer Biography

Mussorgsky met a group of musicians, later dubbed 'The Five', after being commissioned as an officer in the elite Preobrazhensky Regiment of the Imperial Guards.

Critical Reception

Mussorgsky never heard his tone-poem Night on Bald Mountain performed, which the booklet suggests was not surprising given its immediate reception.

Performer Biography

Nicholas Boulton, the narrator for this album, graduated from The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and has featured in BBC radio dramas, audiobooks, and video games.