Modest Mussorgsky - Pictures from an exhibition; Sergei Prokofiev - Visions Fugitives & Sarcasms (Steven Osborne)

Information

Composer: Modest Mussorgsky; Sergei Prokofiev

• (01) Mussorgsky - Pictures from an exhibition
• (17) Prokofiev - Sarcasms, Op. 17
• (22) Prokofiev - Visions Fugitives, Op. 22

Steven Osborne, piano
Date: 2013
Label: Hyperion
https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67896

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Review

Osborne delves deeper into Russian repertoire

After his disc of Rachmaninov’s 24 Preludes (6/09), Steven Osborne moves into rougher Russian waters with Mussorgsky and Prokofiev. And here, once more, is an ideal blend of fidelity to the score, with a subtle and distinctive rather than overbearing musical personality. In the Mussorgsky everything is as musicianly as it is technically immaculate. What tonal delicacy and translucency in ‘Tuileries’, and listen to his finesse in the tremolandos at the end of ‘Con mortuis in lingua mortua’, something barely audible and coming as it were from a great distance. Yet in the more weighty numbers (‘Bydlo’, ‘The Great Gate at Kiev’, etc), there is power without brutality so that what so easily degenerates into a mere uproar is so finely graded that you forget the essentially percussive nature of the writing.

In Prokofiev’s Sarcasms, too, there is a leavening of the composer’s violent and leering gesture against the Russian establishment but never at the expense of the title. Again, in the Visions fugitives there is the finest possible sense of ‘things flying past’ with a stunning reminder in the Feroce of No 14 of Osborne’s superb technique. Returning to the Mussorgsky (the chief offering in this recital), this may well be the most lucid and musicianly Pictures on record. Hyperion’s sound and presentation are beyond praise.

-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 10
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/May13/Musorgsky_Osborne_67896.htm
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jan/31/mussorgsky-pictures-from-an-exhibition-review
https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/pjrj/
http://classicalsource.com/db_control/db_cd_review.php?id=10969
https://www.audaud.com/mussorgsky-pictures-from-an-exhibition-prokofiev-20-visions-fugitives-5-sarcasms-steven-osborne-piano-helioshyperion/.
https://www.amazon.com/Mussorgsky-Pictures-Exhibition-Prokofiev-Sarcasms/dp/B00AG8HSTW

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Modest Mussorgsky (21 March [O.S. 9 March] 1839 – 28 March [O.S. 16 March] 1881) was a Russian composer, one of the group known as The Five. He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period, striving to achieve a uniquely Russian musical identity, often in deliberate defiance of the established conventions of Western music. Many of his works were inspired by Russian history, Russian folklore, and other nationalist themes. For many years Mussorgsky's works were mainly known in versions revised or completed by other composers, but some of the original scores are now also available.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modest_Mussorgsky

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Sergei Prokofiev (23 April, 1891–March 5, 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor. As the creator of acknowledged masterpieces across numerous genres, he was one of the major composers of the 20th century. Prokofiev wrote seven completed operas, seven symphonies, eight ballets, five piano concertos, two violin concertos, a cello concerto, a symphony-concerto for cello and orchestra, and nine completed piano sonatas, many of which are widely known and heard. He also enjoyed personal and artistic support from a new generation of Russian performers, notably Sviatoslav Richter and Mstislav Rostropovich.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Prokofiev

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Steven Osborne (born 1971) is a Scottish pianist. He was taught by Richard Beauchamp at St Mary's Music School in Edinburgh before going to the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester to study under Renna Kellaway. His recording career began when he was signed to Hyperion Records in 1998, and this on-going contract has brought him two Gramophone Awards. Concerto performances take Steven Osborne to orchestras all over the world. He has returned almost annually to the BBC Prom and has also appeared both as a soloist and chamber musician at the Edinburgh Festival.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Osborne_(pianist)

http://www.stevenosborne.co.uk/

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