Music

...Although Eric Simon has not been entirely successful in his transcription, comparison with the three available recordings of the piano \ersion will show that, while there has been some slight sacrifice of formal musical values, there has been a more than corresponding gain in tonal color and the mood of despairing irony that was undoubtedly Mussorgsky's aim...

...He had enough of the artist in him to recognize Mussorgsky's abilities, but his formal soul was shocked by what he no doubt considered violations of the rules laid down by the best thought of professors of composition...

...Simon's transcription has none of the pretty, fussy harmony that make the piano score more academically acceptable but considerably less genuine...

...Born in a well-to-do Russian family of musical tastes and interests, Mussorgsky spent some time as an Army officer before he turned to full-time composing...

...Rimsky-Korsakov, on (he other hand, was an almost classic example of the conservatory-Irained artisan...

...Best of the lot for clarity of recording technique is the version by Heinz Rehfuss (London ffrr LL-1318), but the most exciting to hear is that by George London, with Ulanowsky at the piano (Columbia 3ML-4906...

...But, as is often the case with Miss Tourel these days, it is a triumph of style over both material and voice...

...Unfortunately, Georgio Tozzi as Boris lacks the force demanded by the part, so it is difficult to make an accurate judgment of the new arrangement...

...All in all...

...The revised version, done two years ago at the Met, has been recorded by Metropolitan Opera Records (put out by the Book-of-the-Month Club...

...Tho result is that there is almost none of Mussorgsky's music that has not been filtered through the slick —but basically pedantic—mind of Rimsky-Korsakov...

...First, the attempt was made with Boris Godu-nov, with generally gratifying results...

...Some complained that the "new" version lacked the cohesion and polish of the old Rimsky-Korsakov version, but even if we are willing to overlook the composer's original intentions (which I am not), it seems to me that polish applied to the demonic Boris is a ridiculous contradiction in terms...

...He had his share of the usual rough treatment by contemporary critics, but the most devastating damage was done by his friend, the academician Rimsky-Korsakov...

...Mussorgsky probably came as close as anyone to being what the 18th century referred to rather snootily as a natural genius...

...I am convinced that, while the new orchestral version might not show up as the he-all anil end-all...

...the Town Hall performance raised the hope that this transcription will be recorded, so as to enable a more leisurely comparison with the earlier versions...

...Of the recordings currently in press, the most polished is certainly the one by Jennie Tourel, with Leonard Bernstein at the piano (Columbia 3ML-4289...

...MUSIC By Hibbard James Mussorgsky Minus Rimsky-Korsakov WHEN THE Little Orchestra Society opened its eleventh season at Town Hall recently, Thomas Scherman upheld his reputation for the unusual by giving the first New York performance of a new version of Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death, featuring George London...

...Now we have the "new" version of Songs and Dances of Death...

...It was a curious friendship...

...Recently, there have been slight indications of a movement back to Mussorgsky in the raw...

...her performance is just a little too studied to fully suit the gloomy abandon of the music...

...Nevertheless, though London is excellent on this recording, giving an almost ideal rendition of the somber melodic line, the performance as a whole lacks something...

...It is one of the ironies of musical history that Mussorgsky suffered more at the hands of his friends than most other composers suffered at the hands of their enemies...

...Simon is better with the woodwinds, which are used in such a way as to suggest that Mussorgsky was traveling the very road that the early Stravinsky explored some years later...

...Hearing London at Town Hall, singing the new version and with an orchestral backing, it becomes clearer than ever that the well-intentioned meddling of Rimsky-Korsakov was a basic violation of Mussorgsky's conceptions...

...In one or two places, Simon falters in his use of the strings, so that what he intends to be somber becomes merely muddy, but the overall impression creates an atmosphere that admirably matches the mood of the Golyeni-schev-Kutuzov words...

...This was an orchestral transcription of the familiar cycle of four songs for voice and piano, purporting to conform more closely to Mussorgsky's original intentions than the usual denatured Rimsky-Korsakov score...

...Pictures at an Exhibition is one happy exception: A number of composers of varying merit (among them Ravel) have done orchestral transcriptions of the original, but the piano pieces survive, undampened (so far as I know) by the wet blankets of well-meaning professors...

...it would further underline the deficiencies of the Rimsky-Korsakov arrangement...