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Mussorgsky: Sorochintsi Fair - Review
Posted by John Smith on December 3, 2024, 11:37 am
Just a note regarding the comprehensive and enthusiastic review of the Naxos recording of Mussorgsky's Sorochintsi Fair - Rimsky-Korsakov did not complete or produce a performing version of the opera.
Indeed, the opera was not staged within Rimsky-Korsakov's lifetime, surviving excerpts being staged in 1913 and the first completion (by Cui) being performed in 1917.
Rimsky-Korsakov's arrangement of A Night on Bald Mountain is based on the version Mussorgsky created for interpolation in Sorochintsi Fair. This explains why his widely-performed arrangement ends lyrically and peacefully rather than with a bang as in the original score (1867). Rimsky-Korsakov's performing version of this "tone poem" was premiered in 1886.
Thank you for advising us about the error in my review regarding Rimsky-Korsakov's involvement with Sorochintsii fair. I will make an amendment to my review to reflect this. M.Parr
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Just a note regarding the comprehensive and enthusiastic review of the Naxos recording of Mussorgsky's Sorochintsi Fair - Rimsky-Korsakov did not complete or produce a performing version of the opera.
Indeed, the opera was not staged within Rimsky-Korsakov's lifetime, surviving excerpts being staged in 1913 and the first completion (by Cui) being performed in 1917.
Rimsky-Korsakov's arrangement of A Night on Bald Mountain is based on the version Mussorgsky created for interpolation in Sorochintsi Fair. This explains why his widely-performed arrangement ends lyrically and peacefully rather than with a bang as in the original score (1867). Rimsky-Korsakov's performing version of this "tone poem" was premiered in 1886.
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