Truecrypt plays Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition (4/4)

Part IV
The Hut on Hen's Legs (Baba-Yaga)
The Bogatyr Gates (in the Capital in Kiev)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• truecrypt
• plays
• Pictures
• at
• an
• Exhibition
• Mussorgsky
• piano
• classical

[jimsamman1]

Congratulations 'truecrypt'. This is a sensational performance - inspired by Richter?

[truecrypt]

@jimsamman1

Thank you! The "problem" with Richter's performance is that one can't "shake it off" easily... Richter covers all aspects of this piece! I didn't try to replicate and copy Richter in any way, but my imagination and pianistic abilities are not strong enough to offer something radically new... plus I hate to be original in sake of originality. It's like being caught between Scilla and Haribda, i.e. avoiding both extremes - affectation and boredom.

[jimsamman1]

@truecrypt

And with Richter's performance, what comes through is some of the torture he has felt in his life I think. I think some of my favourite pieces have some of this sense of resolution of suffering (e.g. Schumann Symphonic Etudes), even if that suffering is probably largely self-inflicted. Perhaps I will move back to something lighter - like some cheery Chopin or even Mozart. Again, I am grateful for you putting these performances out there. Apologies for the prolonged message.

[truecrypt]

@jimsamman1

I'm glad to provide some "food for thinking" and I do appreciate your "prolonged" messages! ;) Sometimes I'm also getting tired and overwhelmed with dramatic pieces, but strangely enough I can't get enough of them. Tragedy and suffering in music brings indescribable beauty and depth into our lives. May be it's just aberrations of my Russian/Jewish character... ;)

[LisztBusoni]

Hi!

Please, can You advise me to study the part from 5:39 onwards?

Thanks and sorry for the disturb.

Have a good Day!

p.s.: tou are good! ;)

[truecrypt]

@LisztBusoni

May be the *key* here is good fingering... Use 1st finger on low bass notes and be sure your LH moves by high arch trajectory. In piano playing the shortest distance is not always the most effective way to do things. Be sure you can play both hands separately! Good luck!

[gerryrains]

jethroeyes,

This is hardly a performance by some fourteen year old beginner. Those ARE bad, although the performers may get useful feedback.

This is a very difficult composition being played by a professional who has been kind enough to share a few of his recordings with us. In addition, he had uploaded 230+ videos by the Russians greats of the twentieth century.

This is not a man trying to sell himself.

[kaleidoscopio2006]

do u still play the piano?or in public?i´ll buy a ticket

[LORDOFHELLL]

This is fantastic. Great job

[Alecs1950]

How much power, safety and sensitivity! Thanks for Mussorgsky true. I have often heard Ravel orchestrated version till now

[jubjub2112]

@truecrypt Bravo! Very well done! This is one of my favorite pieces and you play it beautifully (my only suggestion, at risk of being too vague, would be to find a place to record it that has warmer acoustics, if you follow my meaning). But this is a minor complaint, to say the least! I'm glad you recognize your own limitations ( I am neither classically trained nor a musician so I can't hear them). Nice reference to The Police's Wrapped Around Your Finger!

[jimsamman1]

@truecrypt

Agreed on the drama. I find the lighter stuff (which for me still has to have perhaps an underlying depth of thought or at least a playfulness of technical invention as with some of the Chopin Etudes without too much histrionics) a nice interlude, before revisiting the heavier pieces. There is a lot of colour to tragedy, and so many angles to play it. As for the Russian/Jewish - I'm 1/4 German/Jewish myself. I think this partly attracts me to that heavier style.

[jimsamman1]

@truecrypt

Continuing the earlier message. I find the solution to be for smaller pieces (say of 10 minutes or less) is to seek to iron out the technical matters first. This is an enjoyable challenge, but sometimes can be tedious if I don't have the skills to solve the challenge immediately. Once the various challenges are settled, then it is a matter of marrying the phrases into something meaningful. And then interpretation can shine through.

[jimsamman1]

@truecrypt

Can see your point about Richter's performance being hard to 'shake off'. Interesting to see how you see the Scylla and Charybdis (this is the English spelling - where are you from?) of affectation (overinterpreting the music I assume you to mean) and boredom (the lot of a pianist practising through a long piece such as this). I think this is a common dilemma.