Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition (CD review)

Plus Borodin:  Symphony No. 2 and Polovtsian Dances. Simon Rattle, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.  EMI 50999 5 00273 2 3.

Needless to say, in order to bring off Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition successfully, a conductor must exercise a good deal of imagination if he isn't to sound like every other conductor who has ever recorded the work.  You would think that if anybody could pull it off, it might be Simon Rattle.  But try as I might in repeat listening, I could not quite get into the music on this EMI disc of music with the Berlin Philharmonic.

I'm not entirely sure what went wrong here, either with the conductor or with me.  I found Rattle rushed when he should have been descriptive and almost lackadaisical when he should have been vigorous.  The "Marketplace," for instance, seems more hurried than bustling with energy, his "Baba-Yaga" witch more earthbound than scary, and his "Great Gate of Kiev" more solemn than grand.  He follows this with a reading of Borodin's Symphony No. 2 that sounds positively leaden in places, the disc concluding with probably the best of the lot, Borodin's "Polovtsian Dances" from Prince Igor in which Rattle does convey an impressively seductive tone.

But for comparison purposes I used Reiner (RCA) and Muti (EMI) for the Pictures and found both of those performances more colorful; Martinon (Decca) for the Borodin Symphony and found it more vital; and Beecham (EMI) for the "Polovtsian Dances" and appreciated its chorus, which Rattle omits.

The sound, I read on the back of the jewel box, EMI recorded live in July, 2007.  I always have to wonder if the quality of a live recording has anything to do with my appreciation of a performance because, generally speaking, I don't care for live recordings.  In this case, the recording has an oddly drab sound, while at the same time being well balanced, with a fine, well-controlled bass impact.  At least we're spared any audience applause (or any audience noises of any kind for that matter).  The sonics just seem flat, somehow, especially when compared to the recordings I listed above, some of which are almost fifty years older than this one.  They all seemed more alive to my ear.

Another oddity:  The booklet insert that came with the copy of the disc EMI sent me is entirely in German.  No English translation.  Don't know why.  Also, there are no timings listed anywhere, not in the booklet and not on the back cover of the case.  I have no idea what the EMI folks are up to here.  Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic should be the current jewel in their crown, and it seems to me that unless they sensed something wrong with this issue, they might have done more in promoting it.

JJP