"Willem G. Vijvers" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Apparently, Walter has been attending the usual mixture of two operas, a
>conflation of the 1869 and the 1872 versions.  I think that only a choice
>between them is possible.  If only because of this, the recent recording
>mentioned by Paul MacKay of both versions separately, is worth hearing.
>The Rimsky-Korsakov version should also not be dismissed out of hand, as
>should perhaps Shostakovich' and others.

I think Sjostakovitjs version is the one of these two who comes closest
to Mussorgskijs intentions.  Rimsky-Korsakov worked more out a lighter,
swifter orchestration, with melodic tails wowen into each other, which true
is pleasant to listen to, but Sjostakovitj has a heavier, darker, strighter
orchestration, whioch to me sound more Russian and more Mussorgskij...An
example:  Meanwhile Sjostakovitj began working on Boris, Glazunov said to
him that Mussorgskij had played the scene with the bells for him on the
piano; it was dark, and powerful, heavy...so is what Mussorgskij wanted
it to be.  However Sjostakovitjs is better than any of the Mussorgskij
originals, because Mussorgskij wasn't - like Prokofiev - good at
orchestrating.  To be able to make good orchestrations is something that
comes, not from musical gift, but from lots of hard work.  Mussorgskij was
a splendid musical talent (with a tremendeous musical memory, but that's
another story], but he didn't practised hard enough.  To me, the version by
Sjostakovitj is like a skilled Mussorgskij.  I can add that Sjostakovitj
worked more fair than Rimsky-Korsakov, as the later did just make his own
version.  Sjostakovitj worked more fair - he put the different scores
behind each other; the Mussorgskij, the Rimsky-Korsakovs, and his own, and
if any of the others had made a part better, he choosed that one.  This
leads to the thought that Sjostakovitjs version lacks of unity, but this
does somehow don't come out; Sjostakovitj has followed the rules properly;
choosing from the other composers only where this was possible, and after
all in much there is Mussorgskijs original, just modified and refined by
Sjostakovitj - like the scene with the bells, which Mussorgskij had
orchestrated like a student who is afraid of falling through a test.

James Zehm
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