Composer: Modest Mussorgsky
Performer: Nobuyuki Tsujii
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Challenge Classics
Release: 2013
Size: 161 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
01. Promenade
02. Gnomus
03. Promenade
04. Il vecchio castello
05. Promenade
06. Tuileries – Dispite d’enfants apres jeux
07. Bydlo
08. Promenade
09. Ballet des poussins dans leurs coques
10. Samuel Goldenberg und Schmuyle
11. Promenade
12. Limoges – Le marché
13. Catacombae – Sepulchrum Romanum
14. Cum mortuis in lingua mortua
15. La cabane sur des pattes de poule – Baba-Yaga
16. La Grande Porte de Kiev
17. Liszt: Un Sospiro
18. Liszt: Rigoletto: Paraphrase de Concert, S434/R267
Nobuyuki Tsujii tackles another virtuosic warhorse of the literature for this 2011 release, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. The result is a mixture of impressive skill and highly individualistic choices. Tsujii has a great deal of control in his touch, able to produce soft, gentle colorings, as in the second “Promenade” statement, and pounding bass-lines, as in “Bydlo.” However, often his choices for tempo and rubato will strike anyone who is very familiar with the work as definitely odd. In “Bydlo,” the tempo is steady, but it is not ponderous or slow enough to paint a picture of a gigantic or very heavily laden oxcart. In other movements, it’s almost as if Tsujii over-internalized the music when he learned it, like when you repeat a word so often it starts to sound like nonsense. Once in a while, this works to the music’s advantage, as in the “Limoges” and “Baba Yaga” movements where the little bit of extra speed or shaping through rubato adds to the character. He also brings out some unexpected lines in “Baba Yaga” which most performers don’t and which contribute another welcome dimension to the movement. But other times, as in “Gnomus” and “Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle,” the rhythmic readings don’t necessarily evoke the expected picture. The disc is filled out with a couple of Liszt showpieces that also let Tsujii display some fine finger work and control, but need just a little more time to ripen to full interpretive maturity. This release is satisfying as an example of the artist’s ability, but not an essential performance of Pictures.
