Post For " Pictures at an Exhibition"

During this weeks class I found the "Pictures at an Exhibition" video to be very interesting. The reason I say this is because at first I found it hard to understand what the music was about. But when the Professor started to narrate it I began to visualize and imagine the things happening through the sound of the music. I also wondered why the musicians would always go back to the Promenade section. It was also cool how the music had things that compared then contrasted. I say this because it was so many movements that were slow and mellow while others were more intense and loud. This was a great and also different video from the others we have seen so far. I think that as a listener you can visualize what the composer was trying to show through the music we were listening too. Not only that but just the sound that I heard from all the different instruments was very nice to hear. It was nice to hear them all playing together but with a unique sound because they all were using a different instrument from a different family.

                                                                     By Venezia Manuel

Pictures at an Exhibition - Mussorgsky

Pictures at an Exhibition was composed by the Russian Nationalist composer Modeste Mussorgsky in 1874. It was originally written for piano, but it has been arranged dozens of times for orchestras and other smaller ensembles. The one we will hear has been arranged by Maurice Ravel.

This work was written in memory of Mussogsky's artist friend Viktor Hartmann.
It is a musical depiction of Mussorgy's experience of walking through Hartmann's posthumous art exhibit.

Besides creating original "soundtracks" to each painting, Mussorgsky also wrote numerous "Promenades" as interludes between many of the movements to symbolize his own impressions walking between the paintings.

The video we will watch in class is available to view online for free on the Naxos Video site. It is of the Berlin Philharmonic, one of the finest orchestras in the world, conducted by Simon Rattle. It is from a DVD of a live concert with several other works on it. You should be able to select the "Chapters" tab and jump to Pictures at an Exhibtion, which runs from 0'50" to 1'23". Not only is it an outstanding recording with brilliant playing, but the video is of very high quality with excellent close-ups of all of the instruments.

If you are accessing this link on an off-campus computer, you will need to sign in by proxy using your HawkID and password.

Some Connections and Directions:

• Nationalism
• Art History 
• Folk Culture
• Russian History 

At the University of Indiana, Professor David Ward-Steinman teaches a course called "Connections: Music-Art-Poetry" Check out the images from Hartmann's original exhibition. (Link located near the bottom of the left sidebar)

Embedded below is unique interpretation of this work, using animation and the music as social commentary. It's a pretty clever use of the music.