Mikhail Mordvinov, the pianist on this album, gained international recognition by winning the Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau in 1996 and the Franz-Schubert Competition in Dortmund in 1997.
Notable Performances
During a recital in Leipzig in 1840, some audience members reportedly stood on their chairs to witness Franz Liszt's pianistic interpretation of Schubert's Erlkönig.
Composition History
Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition was composed in 1874 at the suggestion of art critic Vladimir Stassow, to whom the cycle is dedicated, after Mussorgsky visited an exhibition of works by their mutual friend Viktor Hartmann.
Album & Artwork
The album title "Songs and Pictures" reflects the highly pictorial character of both Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and Franz Schubert's songs, as transcribed by Franz Liszt.
Composition History
Franz Liszt transcribed over 140 songs by other composers, including 55 by Franz Schubert, primarily to introduce Schubert's lesser-known works to a wider audience.
Compositional Technique
Mussorgsky unified Pictures at an Exhibition with a recurring "Promenade" movement, which depicts the composer walking through the exhibition and reflects his emotional state, linking the different "pictures."
Compositional Technique
Franz Liszt's transcriptions of Schubert's songs expanded tonal possibilities by doubling notes, composing in octaves, and adding more parts, while adapting the pieces to the evolving concert grand piano.
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