I was listening to this work the other day, in a
highly praised (live) recording made by Sviatoslav Richter in Prague. It is indeed a great recording (one
of many of this work made by the great pianist), actually one of the best I’ve
ever heard. And, again, I had this disturbing thought that I want to share with
you… It is a work that, to me, does not “fit” well with the piano. There is
something annoyingly un-pianistic about it. I know I am an exception about what is
commonly believed to be the piano piece par excellence! But it is
enough for someone to hear Ravel's marvelous orchestral transcription to
realize how much better the work sounds in its orchestral version. The big
and long chords, the various effects, the huge dynamics, the vast variety of
colors – all these can best be served by a large orchestra; such is the “size”
of the sound that a piano, however powerful the interpreter, falls short in
comparison with the orchestra. I cannot help but thinking that Mussorgsky had an
orchestral sound in mind when composing his Pictures.
I apply what I said to this work only, not as a
general rule. Actually, in most cases (if not all), the original composition
always stands above any transcription. And, in the past, I've written
about the danger of composing deplorable transcriptions when the transcriber does not “respect” the limits of the
instrument to which he/she is transcribing.
I remember practicing the Pictures when in London, in 1999. It is a
huge work requiring real guts to play it in public… After practicing the piece
on-and-off for a couple of months, I eventually gave up on it. I like hearing it from time to time though. No doubt, this is a monumental piece of music; yet my concerns about its pianistic qualities are always there...
