Modest Mussorgsky: Intermezzo in modo classico - von Riesemann's best-of edition Russian piano music

Performed by Christian Dillig (piano)
Modest Mussorgsky (1839 - 1881) wrote this Intermezzo in two versions. The first version dates from 1862 and the second, somewhat longer version, from 1867. He also arranged the piece for orchestra. The music is reminiscent of Mussorgsky's even more famous work in several places: Pictures at an Exhibition.
The tempo indication Grave pesante is interpreted very differently. Some interpreters therefore play the piece very slowly, referring the Grave to the crotchets. I do not believe that Mussorgsky meant this, but that the Grave refers to the pulse of the dotted half-notes, and his revised and longer version seems to agree with this, where he gives the tempo as Strogo (ita. Risolutamente). An Italian edition gives it as Allegro moderato e serioso. If one were to relate both to the crotchets, there would be worlds between Grave and Allegro and the 2nd version would almost have to be understood as a caricature of the first. In fact, the piece, which Mussorgsky also set for orchestra, is sometimes played very quickly. It is probably not that Mussorgsky suddenly realised that he had set the tempo far too slowly, or that he had undergone a change, but rather that he deliberately turned Grave pesante into strogo (risolutamente) because his intention to relate the pulse to the dotted half notes had been misunderstood and the piece fell apart with other performers because it was played too slowly.
Despite the greater fame of Pictures at an Exihibition, this work was and still is held in high esteem. The impressive piece appears in two important best-of editions of Russian piano music. Constantin von Sternberg chose the piece for his American anthology in 1915, as did the German-Russian musicologist and composer Oskar von Riesemann in his selection volume of the 1920 Edition Belaieff. Riesemann, who was highly esteemed by Rachmaninoff, compiled an outstanding selection of pieces that can itself be understood as a composition and most of which I have already recorded.
Pieces from the amazing Anthology "Russian Composers" (1920) of the German musicologist Oscar von Riesemann, which I have already put on UA-cam:
1. Fjodor Akimenko: Chant d’Automne op. 16 No. 1 • Fjodor Akimenko: Chant...
2. Nikolai Artchiboucheff : Prélude op. 18 No. 1 • Nikolai Artsybushev: P...
3. Nikolai Amani: Orientale op. 7 No. 2 • Nikolai Amani: Orienta...
4. Semyon Barmotine: Berceuse op. 5 No. 3 • Semyon Barmotin: Berce...
5. Felix Blumenfeld: Krakowiak op. 23 No. 1ua-cam.com/video/86RWZGSEO5c/v-deo.html
8. Anatole Liadow: Une Tabatière à Musique (The Music Box). Valse-Bandinage
• Anatoly Lyadov: The Mu...
9. Modest Mussorgsky: Intermezzo in modo classico • Modest Mussorgsky: Int...
10. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakow: Song of India from the opera Sadko (arr. by Alexander Tcherepnin) • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsako...
12. Nikolay Shcherbachyov: Le Mezzetin amoureux (Sérénade amoureux) op. 8 Nr. 5
• Nikolaj Shcherbachyov:...
I have put together a playlist with titles from best-of editions of Russian piano music and would like to present more pieces from such editions in the future:
• Best-of editions and a...
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