Paul Lewis - Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Robert Schumann: Fantasie, Op.17 (2015)

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Paul Lewis - Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Robert Schumann: Fantasie, Op.17 (2015)

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Paul Lewis’ recording of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition has many outstanding characteristics. He takes the opening Promenade at a true Allegro giusto, and fuses the music’s declamatory and lyrical qualities while underlining the harmonic surprises through voicing and touch. Gnomus seems a little more mischievous than usual by way of characterful details such as Lewis’ effective acceleration of the B-flats at measures 10 and 17, and the left hand trills’ pointed precision and dynamic control.

Lewis’ gorgeously sustained The Old Castle brings out long formant inner voices and countermelodies, in contrast to his arch accelerations in Tuileries’ central section. Bydlo’s heavy tread gets slower as the piece unfolds, although shapely left-hand detailing lends particular interest to Lewis’ lightning-quick and scintillating Unhatched Chicks Ballet. His depiction of the Two Polish Jews is less contrasted and direct than in Steven Osborne’s recording, while The Limoges Marketplace’s scurrying customers retain vibrancy without losing their footing. In Con mortuis in lingua mortua, Lewis’ quick and smooth right-hand tremolos anchor the half-tints and blurred pedalings that color the left hand’s chorale-like reiteration of the Promenade theme. The overall effect differs from Osborne’s more muted, disembodied tremolos. Lewis intensifies Baba Yaga’s energetic momentum with telling dynamic surges that carry over into his majestically sonorous Great Gate at Kiev.

While the first movement of Schumann’s C major Fantasy provides ample opportunities for rhetorical leeway and inflection, Lewis instead goes for a headlong, symphonically oriented approach that is similar to Maurizio Pollini’s, yet more generalized in detail. The pianist underplays the central movement’s obsessive rhythmic drive in favor of conversational linear interplay, and negotiates the coda’s treacherous leaps with a kind of effortless lyricism that might disappoint listeners expecting the usual athleticism and dramatic build. He floats the finale’s descending melodies in long, eloquent arcs, unfolding the whole movement with simplicity and expressive economy, although I slightly prefer the warmer tone and more resonant bass lines of Andreas Haefliger’s comparable interpretation, among recent recorded versions. Paul Lewis’ Mussorgsky/Schumann coupling may not persuade 100 percent of the time, yet there’s no question of the pianist’s serious, mindful, and thoroughly committed mastery.

Review by Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

The pairing of the piano version of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition with Schumann's Fantasie, Op. 17, here is a little odd. The supplied notes by Roman Hinke point to an explanation involving the two works being less programmatic than they first seemed; Schumann discarded descriptive titles for his work, and Mussorgsky's little pieces, Hinke contends, are less closely tied to the paintings by Viktor Hartmann referred to in the work's title than generally thought. It's questionable whether this really holds up: Mussorgsky's framing movements really evoke a great gate at Kiev. But leave this concept aside and it's a satisfying performance of, especially, the Mussorgsky. Part of the reason Pictures at an Exhibition is so much more often heard in Ravel's orchestration is that it's a pretty unconventional piano work, sort of irregularly hewn out of musical stone. In its own time, even in Russia, it must have seemed all the more unconventional, and Lewis gets this radical quality even as he delivers a rather precise performance. In his hands the work feels more modern than Romantic, and one feels that he contributes something to the musical dialogue surrounding this work that even casual classical music listeners know, yet that remains imperfectly understood. The Teldex Studio sound from Harmonia Mundi perfectly complements the music's edgy quality.

Review by James Manheim, Allmusic.com

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Paul Lewis - Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Robert Schumann: Fantasie, Op.17 (2015)

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Paul Lewis - Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Robert Schumann: Fantasie, Op.17 (2015)

Close

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Paul Lewis - Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Robert Schumann: Fantasie, Op.17 (2015)

Close

×

Paul Lewis - Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Robert Schumann: Fantasie, Op.17 (2015)

Close