Mussorgsky: Pictures at an ExhibitionMedtner: Improvisation No.1

Tchaikovsky: The Seasons

Mussorgsky: Pictures at an ExhibitionMedtner: Improvisation No.1

Tchaikovsky: The Seasons

Mussorgsky: Pictures at an ExhibitionMedtner: Improvisation No.1

Tchaikovsky: The Seasons

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Original face page of Tchaikovsky’s “The Seasons”

Mussorgsky, Medtner & Tchaikovsky- Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): The Seasons, Op.37bisPerhaps the most popular of Tchaikovsky’s piano works is his suite of 12 pieces, entitled The

Seasons, Opus 37bis. According to the Russian music critic, Nikolai Kashkin, the music came into exis-tence as a result of a commission from Nikolai Bernard, the publisher of a monthly magazine,Nouvelliste. Tchaikovsky was asked to compose one piano piece appropriate to the month of each issue.Tchaikovsky agreed, but he soon lost interest in the undertaking and it was left to his servant to inter-vene whenever the deadline for each new composition was about to expire. It is said that on such morn-ings he would approach Tchaikovsky’s bed and say: “Pyotr Il’yich, isn’t it high time to see about thecomposition for St. Petersburg?” At these words the composer would always jump out of bed, sit downat his table, and quickly write the required composition. Bernard selected a poetic epigraph to head eachpiece. These poetic lines where eventually reprinted when Tchaikovsky’s official publisher, PyotrIvanovich Jurgenson, brought out the entire set in 1885. Since Jurgenson published Tchaikovsky’sGrand Sonata in G Major as Opus 37 around the time The Seasons were composed (1875-76),Jurgenson assigned the opus number of 37bis to the set (“bis” literally means “encore”). Some subse-quent editions have listed the set as Opus 37a, and others as 37b. Earl Wild follows Jurgenson’s opusnumbering.

The final months of 1875 were professionally rewarding for Tchaikovsky. His First Piano Concertoreceived its world première in Boston with Hans von Bülow at the piano. The première of his ThirdSymphony, in Moscow, was another success. The first two of The Seasons were written in December 1875,probably just before Tchaikovsky left for a foreign holiday with his brother Modest. In late January 1876,Tchaikovsky returned to St. Petersburg, where he completed his Third String Quartet, which he hadbegun in Paris. It was in February, while finishing this work, that he wrote the third of The Seasons, thehaunting “Song of the Lark.” The next two installments in the set followed on schedule in March andApril, during which time Tchaikovsky completed Swan Lake. The seven remaining pieces were all writ-ten in April and May as Tchaikovsky prepared for his summer travels.

This somewhat curious method of work had, however, in no way impaired the music. On the con-trary, this marvelous musical zodiac is remarkable for the unity of its conception and the great purity ofits execution. It is composed of twelve parts, each of which has a double title: January – “At the Fireside,”February – “Carnival,” March – “The Song of the Lark,” April – “Snowdrop,” May – “Starlit Nights,”June – “Barcarolle,” July – “The Song of the Reapers,” August – “Harvest,” September – “The Hunt,”October – “Autumn Song,” November – “Troika,” December – “Christmas.”

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Three of these pieces (“Barcarolle,” “AutumnSong” and “Troika”) have earned world fame and havean independent life of their own in diverse arrange-ments. The first two owe their renown to their sweetnostalgia, the “Troika” to the highly suggestive andcolorful way in which the composer evokes the pictureof a Russian sled flying across a snow-covered,sparkling landscape. It was a favorite encore on SergeiRachmaninov’s piano recitals. All the other composi-tions of the cycle are equally perfect miniatures fromthe pen of a master. Take, for instance, the gaiety andhappiness expressed in the Russian genre picture “Atthe Fireside” – the family is gathered together in awarm and well-lit room while a blizzard rages outside.“Carnival,” by virtue of its energetic loftiness, is verynear to the genius of Schumann. “The Song of theLark” sounds quite a different note than we are usedto; there is a melancholy and a desire for somethingunknown in it, floating like a bluish veil of mist abovea sad and desolated land. “Snowdrop” is full of deli-cate, gentle moods, but as a whole giving the impres-sion of a ballet scene rather than a descriptive piecefrom Nature. “Starlit Nights,” on the other hand, fully

conveys the picture of night lit by a silver moon and filled with the rustle of the young birch trees soplentiful in Russian woods. “Barcarolle” has little to remind us of Venice; its gentle nostalgia is yet againof Russian origin. “The Song of the Reapers” brings a sharp rhythmic contrast, the joy of a summer thatis just beginning. “Harvest” is full of self-confidence and satisfaction, while “The Hunt” gives the com-poser the possibility of exercising a romantically excited imagination. “Autumn Song” is Tchaikovsky’smost famous composition. “Troika” is a fabulous example of Tchaikovsky’s innate ability to combine afolk song motif with a musical narrative. One hears the swift motion of the troika and the sound of thesleighbells. In the concluding piece, “Christmas,” Tchaikovsky linked a magnificent waltz, circling andinterweaving, with happy memories, in one sweet dream.

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Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky

January: At the FiresideB vbhyjq ytub eujkjr This corner of peaceful blissYjxm cevhfrjv jltkf> Dressed by the night in a veil of twilight,D rfvbyt ufcytn jujy=r> In the hearth, the fire is dying away,B cdtxrf ljujhtkf. And the candle has burned out.From A. Pushkin’s poem “The Dreamer” (1815)

February: CarnivalCrjhj vfcktybws ,jqrjq At the lively carnivalPfrbgbn ibhjrbq gbh. Soon a large feast will overflow.From K. Vyazemski’s poem “Carnival in a foreign land” (1853)

March: Song of the LarkGjkt ps,ktncz wdtnfvb> The field shimmering with flowers,D yt,t dm/ncz cdtnf djkys> Waves of light glide across the skyDtiyb[ ;fdjhjyrjd gtymz The song of the spring larkUjke,st ,tplys gjkys. Fills the blue abyss.From A. Maikov’s poem “The field spread with dancing flowers” (1857)

April: SnowdropUjke,tyrbq> xbcnsq Blue, pure,Gjlcyt;ybr-wdtnjr> Snowdrop,F gjlkt crdjpbcnsq And, beside it, gleamsGjcktlybq cyt;jr. The last snow drops.Gjcktlybt ck=ps The last tearsJ ujht ,skjv over past griefsB gthdst uh=ps And first dreamsB cxfcnmt byjv... of another happiness...A. Maikov’s poem “Spring” (1857)

May: Starlit NightsRfrfz yjxm^ Yf dctv rfrfz ytuf^ What a night! What complete bliss!<kfujlfh/ hjlyjq gjkyjxysq rhfq^ Thanks to you, my midnight homeland!

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Bp wfhcndf kmljd> bp wfhcndf dm/u b cytuf From the knigdom of ice, the realm of storms and snow,

Rfr cdt; b xbcn ndjq dsktnftn vfq. How your May flies away so fresh and clean.From A. Fet’s poem “Another May night”

June: BarcarolleDsqltv yf ,thtu> nfv djkys Let us go to the shore, where the wavesYjub yfv ,elen kj,pfnm> kiss our feet,Pd=pls c nfbycndtyyjq uhecnm/ The stars, with secret sadness,<elen yfl yfvb cbznm. shine above us.From A. Plecheyev’s poem “The Song” (1845)

July: Song of the ReapersHfppelbcm> gktxj> Shoulder, heave,Hfpvf[ybcm> herf^ Hand, strive with a willNs gf[yb d kbwj> Thou, breathe in my face,Dtnth c gjkelyz^ Noon wind.A. Koltsov’s poem “The reaper” (1836)

August: HarvestK/lb ctvmzvb People in familiesGhbyzkbcz ;fnm> set to harvestRjcbnm gjl rjhtym cutting down to the rootsHj;m dscjre/^ the tall rye.D rjgys xfcnst In separate heapsCyjgs ckj;tys> The sheaves pile upJn djpjd dc/ yjxm From the laden carts, all night long,Crhsgbn vepsrf. The squeaky music is heard.From A. Koltsov’s poem “The Harvest” (1835)

September: The HuntGjhf> gjhf^ Hjuf nhe,zn& It is time! It is time! The hunting horns sound;Gcfhb d j[jnybxmb[ e,jhf[ The hunters in their finery

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Xtv cdtn e; yf rjyz[ cblzn& At daylight mount their steeds;<jhpst ghbuf/n yf cdjhf[. The borzois strain at their leashes.From A. Pushkin’s poem “Count Nulin” (1825)

October: Autumn SongJctym> jcsgftncz dtcm yfi ,tlysq cfl> Autumn! Our poor garden is quite bare,Kbcnmz gj;tkntdibt gj dtnhe ktnzn... Yellow leaves fly in the wind...From A. Toltoy’s poem “Autumn! Our poor garden is quite bare”

November: TroikaYt ukzlb ;t c njcrjq yf ljhjue> Don’t look in sadness at the road,B pf nhjqrjq dj cktl yt cgtib> And don’t hurry to follow the troïka;B njcrkbde/ d cthlwt nhtdjue And the anguish of your melancholy heartGjcrjhtq yfdctulf pfukeib. Make haste, smother it forever.From N. Nekrassov’s poem “The Troika” (1846)

December: ChristmasHfp d rhtotycrbq dtxthjr Once upon a time on the night of EpiphanyLtdeirb uflfkb% Young maidens were reading fortunes:Pf djhjnf ,fivfxjr> Behind closed doorsCyzd c yjub> ,hjcfkb. Having quickly kicked-off their shoes.From V. Zhukovsky’s poem “Svetlana” (1811)

Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951): Improvisation in B-flat minor, Opus 31, No.1Nikolai Medtner was an important Russian pianist and composer. He entered the Moscow

Conservatory in 1892. There he studied with Paul Pabst, Vassily Safonov, Vassily Sapel’nikov, AntonArensky and Sergei Taneyev. Following graduation in 1900 with a gold medal, he entered the AntonRubinstein Piano Competition in Vienna, and won still another trophy. With this brilliant record to hiscredit, he had no trouble securing engagements, touring Russia and Germany as a virtuoso. In 1906-08and 1914-21 he was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory. The political turmoil in Russia was toomuch to bear, and Medtner (along with Rachmaninov and other musical colleagues) emigrated, first set-tling in Germany. He lived in France (1925-35) and eventually moved to England where he lived theremaining years of his life. In 1946 the Medtner Society was formed, made possible by the financial

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support of Jaya Chamarajenda, the Maharajah ofMysore. Medtner recorded a number of his songs, pianopieces and the three piano concertos, before passingaway in 1951.

Medtner has been described as a neo-classicist,whose reverence for formal purity was “unparalleled incontemporary music.” According to Oskar vonRiesemann, “Medtner’s real originality lies in his hand-ling of rhythm. In this respect he has command of suchfertility of combinations and demonstrates such infi-nitely varied possibilities and inventions, as to give hima place apart in the literature of modern music.” All ofhis compositions are noble, passionate, lyrical and richin imagination. He developed new musical forms –short stories, improvisations, fairy tales and dithyrambs.The textures are complex, with an abundance of coun-terpoint, cross-rhythms and unusual metrical groupings.The Improvisation, Opus 31, No.1 is the first in a set ofthree piano pieces composed in 1914-15 and dedicatedto the memory of Alexei Stanchinsky (1888-1914).Stanchinsky had studied with Igumnov and Lhevinne,

as well as with Zhilyayev and Taneyev. His teachers hailed him as a genius of unusually brilliant gifts.Unfortunately, Stanchinsky suffered from a chronic hereditary mental illness of schizophrenic nature,dementia praecox. Medtner met Stanchinsky a little more than six months before the 26-year-old com-poser was found dead by a stream on a Crimean estate. The tragic waste of one so talented promptedMedtner to create his three piano pieces, the second of which is a Funeral March. The so-calledImprovisation, is actually a short set of variations on a beguiling and very Russian-sounding theme.Beginning with a graceful and melancholy introduction, the Improvisation moves through five variations,flowing from one to the next imperceptibly, ending as peacefully as it began.

- Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881): Pictures at an ExhibitionModest Mussorgsky was gifted with sheer genius, born into a society that did not really understand

him. His formative years were spent in the army. During those six years in the Preobrazhenski

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Nikolai Medtner

Regiment, Mussorgsky spent much of his pastime gam-bling, dancing and drinking. The latter vice was tohave permanently impaired his health. Although large-ly self taught (he had lessons from his mother and ateacher in St. Petersburg, Anton Herke), Mussorgskyshowed enormous musical gifts. He eventually becamepart of a musical circle that included Balakirev, Cui,Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov (together they formedthe famous Russian “Mighty Five”). Most of his laterserious music study was with Balakirev. The world atlarge knows Mussorgsky by his phenomenal master-piece, Boris Godunov, first produced in January 1874.His other internationally known composition, com-pleted in June 1874, was the piano suite, Pictures at anExhibition.

On July 23, I873, the Russian architect and painter,Victor Hartmann, died from a heart attack at the age ofthirty-nine. Hartmann’s two closest friends were thecritic, Vladimir Stassov, and the composer, ModestMussorgsky. Both were deeply affected by the youngman’s passing. Mussorgsky wrote to Stassov: “My verydear friend, what a terrible blow! Why should a dog, a horse, a rat live on when creatures like Hartmannmust die?... This is how the wise usually console us blockheads, in such cases: ‘he is no more, but whathe has done lives and will live!’ True – but how many men have the luck to be remembered?” Stassovarranged a memorial exhibition of Hartmann’s work to be held in the rooms of the St. PetersburgArchitectural Association during the spring of 1874. More than four hundred examples of Hartmann’swork were represented, and it was as a result of witnessing this exhibition that Mussorgsky’s creative urgewas roused to a fevered pitch in a resolve to create a musical memorial worthy of his dead friend.“Hartmann is bubbling over, just as Boris did,” wrote Mussorgsky to Stassov in exuberant spirits.“Ideas and melodies come to me of their own accord, like the roast pigeons in the story – I gorge andgorge and overeat myself. I can hardly manage to put it all down to paper fast enough.” By July he hadfinished the work. In 1874 Mussorgsky was also at work on his second opera, Khovanchina, andhad begun work on his third, The Fair at Sarotchinsk. The superb song-cycle, Sunless, and the bitter

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Modest Mussorgsky

anti-war piece, Forgotten, also came from Mussorgsky’s penduring that year.

For all the effort expended by Stassov and the compos-er on behalf of the departed Hartmann, the painter’s workis remembered today solely because of Mussorgsky’s music.Yet even the Pictures at an Exhibition came into its own onlymany years after the work was completed. Mussorgsky him-self was dead when the Pictures were finally published in1886. The Russian composer, Mikhail Tushmalov, orches-trated eight of the pieces in 1891 (his teacher, NikolaiRimsky-Korsakov revised these when Tushmalov died in1896). Only with the appearance of the classic MauriceRavel orchestration, commissioned by Serge Koussevitzkyin 1922, did the Pictures at an Exhibition attain wide pub-lic success. Since then other musicians, among them SirHenry Wood, Leonidas Leonardi, Lucien Calliet, VladimirAshkenazy, Elgar Howarth, Leopold Stokowski, and therock band, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, have transcribed ororchestrated the piano suite. Only the fabulous Ravel

orchestration and the original piano edition have survived the test of time.For this recording, Earl Wild uses the original piano pieces as they were published in the Lamm

edition made from Mussorgsky’s manuscripts and issued as Volume 8 of his complete works by the StatePublishing Company of the U.S.S.R. in 1939. Vladimir Stassov prepared program notes for the firstedition of Pictures at an Exhibition, which are provided below in an abridged form.

The piano suite contains a total of sixteen pieces, of which there are five “promenades” connectingthe “stroll” through the gallery. The Promenade is a self-portrait of the composer, walking from pictureto picture, pausing dreamily before one and another in fond memory of the artist. Mussorgsky said thathis “own physiognomy peeps-out through all the promenades.’’ The spacious theme, nel modo russico(“In the Russian Manner”) is heard on six different occasions in the suite, serving as an interludebetween Nos. 1 and 2, 2 and 3, 4 and 5, 6 and 7 (this last is omitted in this performance followingRavel’s orchestration); as poignant commentary in the latter half of No. 8; and as a triumphant quota-tion in the finale.

Gnomus is “A sketch depicting two little gnomes, clumsily running with crooked legs.” But Stassov

Victor Hartmann

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later contradicted this original description in a letterwritten to a friend. “The gnome,” he stated, “is achild’s plaything, fashioned, after Hartmann’s designin wood, for the Christmas tree at the Artists’ Club(1869). It is something in the style of the fabledNutcracker, the nuts being inserted, in the gnome’smouth. The gnome accompanies his droll move-ments with savage shrieks.” Il Vecchio Castello (“TheOld Castle”), according to Stassov, is “A medieval cas-tle before which stands a singing troubadour.”Although the original picture which inspired themournful melody of this movement is not noted inthe catalog of the 1874 exhibition, it has been postu-lated that the inspiration for Mussorgsky’s composi-tion was one of Hartmann’s architectural watercolorsdone during his travels in Italy.

Tuileries is a Parisian retreat for well-bred chil-dren of all ages. “Children’s dispute after play. Anavenue in the garden of the Tuileries with a group ofchildren and nurses,” wrote Stassov. In this piece Mussorgsky shows us what an unerring ear he had forcapturing the intonation of human speech through purely musical means. In the middle section, forexample, we can almost hear the patient admonition of a nurse, followed by the querulous remonstranceof the argumentative children. Mussorgsky’s Bydlo is a crude farm wagon, whose wheels are made of solidwooden discs; it is springless, cumbersome, and drawn by a pair of stolid oxen. The Polish word bydlomeans “cattle.” No pictures of cattle or ox-driven carts are noted in the exhibition catalog, but Hartmannspent a month during 1868 in the historic Polish town of Sandomir (scene of the Polish act of BorisGodunov) painting the colorful subject matter at hand, including “the rich Jew and poor Jew” who fig-ure later in Mussorgsky’s suite.

Ballet of the Chicks in Their Shells, Stassov wrote, is “A little picture by Hartmann for the setting ofa picturesque scene in the ballet Trilby.” This ballet, with Hartmann’s settings and costumes, was firstperformed at St. Petersburg in 1871. Choreography was by the renowned Marius Petipa with music byone Julius Gerber (1831-1883). The drawing which Mussorgsky used as a point of departure for this“cheeping” scherzino is described in the exhibition catalog as “Canary chicks, enclosed in eggs as in suits

The Great Gate of Kiev

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of armor. Instead of a head-dress, canary heads, puton like helmets, down to the neck.” Two Polish Jews,One Rich, the Other Poor (sometimes called: SamuelGoldenberg and Schmuyle) is a caricature of twoPolish Jews in conversation with overtones of plead-ing and arguing. The “conversation” ends abruptlywhen Goldenberg rudely dismisses Schmuyle.Mussorgsky himself owned two of Hartmann’sSandomir drawings that figured in the 1874 exhibi-tion, A Rich Jew Wearing a Fur Hat: Sandomir and APoor Sandomir Jew. These drawings probably servedas Mussorgsky’s inspiration for this amazing musicalcaricature. As in the case of Tuileries, the theme char-acterizing, the poor Jew reflects eloquently the com-poser’s flair for reproducing speech rhythms andintonation in music.

The Market Place at Limoges is an amusing portraitof Gallic housewifes effecting a bargain. “Frenchwomen haggling furiously in the market place,” wroteStassov. Perhaps in an effort to help recapture in musicthe speech-rhythms of his female gossips, Mussorgskynoted on a margin of his manuscript snatches of theirfancied talk... “Great news! Monsieur de Panta

Pantaleon has just recovered his cow, The Fugitive. ‘Yes ma’am, that was yesterday.’ ‘No ma’am, that wasday before yesterday.’ ‘Oh, yes, ma’am, the beast roamed all over the neighborhood.’ ‘Oh, no, ma’am, thebeast never got loose at all.’”... “Great news! Monsieur de Puissangeout has just recovered his cow, TheFugitive. But the good gossips of Limoges are not totally agreed about this because Mme. de Remboursachas just acquired a beautiful new set of false teeth whereas Monsieur de Panta Pantaleon’s nose, which isin his way, remains always the color of a peony.”

The Catacombs (Sepulcrum romanum) represents worship in secrecy and darkness and the mystic ritesof early Christians. Stassov comments: “Hartmann represented himself examining the Paris catacombsby the light of a lantern.” “A Latin text,” reads Mussorgsky’s marginal note to Con Murtuis in LinguaMortua, “with the dead in a dead language. Well may it be in Latin! The creative spirit of the dead

Clock in the Form of Baba-Yaga’s Hut

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Hartmann leads me to the skulls, invokes them – a pale light radiates from the interior of the skulls.” The Hut on Fowl’s Legs (Baba-Yaga) is a musical evocation of the hut in which a Russian witch lives.

In Russian legends, this witch is called Baba-Yaga and for purposes of transportation uses a glowing-hotmortar in which she rows with a pestle, reaching out behind from time to time to obliterate all traces ofher passage with a flaming broom. Baba-Yaga, as depicted in Russian tales usually lives in a hut whosefoundation is supported by a pair of gnarly chicken’s feet. Hartmann depicted Baba-Yaga’s rather fantas-tic abode as a surrealistic and menacing clock on chicken’s feet. In Mussorgsky’s musical language theBaba-Yaga is depicted by a demonic scherzo, which music critic Olin Downes once commented “shouldbe played dryly, for Baba-Yaga is without blood!”

As architect and engineer, Hartmann had plans for a monumental gate in the city of Kiev. His imag-inative painting of the gate was the inspiration for Mussorgsky’s final piece of his Pictures at anExhibition: The Great Gate of Kiev. According to Stassov, “Hartmann’s sketch was his design for a citygate at Kiev in the ancient Russian massive style, with a cupola in the form of a Slavonic helmet.” Thecatalog of the Hartmann exhibition included six designs for the Gate. One of Hartmann’s notes read:“Stone city gates for Kiev, Russian style, with a small church inside; the city council had planned to buildthese in 1869, in place of the wooden gates, to commemorate the event of April 4, 1866. [It should be noted that the censor-wise Hartmann referred this way to the escape from assassination ofCzar Alexander II on that date!] The archway rests on granite pillars, three-quarters sunk in the ground.Its head is decorated with a huge headpiece of Russian carved designs, with the Russian state eagle abovethe peak. To the right is a belfry in three stories with a cupola in the shape of a Slav helmet.”Unfortunately, the gate was never built. Music critic, David Hall observes, “Mussorgsky’s music heretakes the form of a massive hymn, alternating at first with episodes evocative of the ancient Churchchant, then soaring, amid bell effects and a joyous reference to the Promenade theme, to a peroration ofblazing grandeur.”

Earl Wild provides the following performance note: “I follow Ravel’s example (in his orchestra-tion), by omitting the Promenade before No.7 (The Market Place at Limoges). Many pianists havefound this to be a desirable cut, due to the elongation of the same material. In No.2 (Il VecchioCastello), I’ve made several changes in the registration of phrases, sometimes playing them an octavehigher and bolstering several phrases with a harp-like arpeggio (quasi Rimsky-Korsakov). In No.10(The Great Gate of Kiev), I have endeavored to give a more imperial sound to the opening hymn. Afterthe second chorale, I lowered the bass bell note one octave, which helps to enhance the feeling of thetolling bells to a greater degree.”

— Notes by Marina and Victor Ledin, ©1999

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Earl Wild

Earl Wild is a pianist in the grand Romantic tra-dition. His legendary career, so distinguished andlong, has continued for well over 70 years. Born in1915, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Earl Wild’s techni-cal accomplishments are often likened to what thoseof Liszt himself must have had. Born with absolutepitch he started playing the piano at three. Havingstudied with great pianists such as Egon Petri, his lin-eage can be traced back to Scharwenka, Busoni, Ravel,d’Albert and Liszt himself.

Earl Wild’s career is dotted with musical legends.As a young pianist he was soloist with ArturoToscanini and the NBC Symphony. Since then he hasperformed with virtually every major conductor andsymphony orchestra in the world. Rachmaninov wasan important idol in his life. It’s been said of EarlWild, “He’s the incarnation of Rachmaninov,Lhevinne and Rosenthal rolled into one!” In 1986after hearing him play three sold-out Carnegie Hallconcerts, devoted to Liszt, honoring the centenary of

that composer’s death, one critic said, “I find it impossible to believe that he played those millions of noteswith 70-year-old fingers, so fresh-sounding and precise were they. Perhaps he has a worn-out set up in hisattic, a la Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray.”

He’s one of the few American pianists to have achieved international as well as domestic celebrity. Hehas performed for six Presidents of the United States, and in 1939, was the first classical pianist to give arecital on the new medium of Television. At fourteen he was performing in the Pittsburgh Symphony withOtto Klemperer as well as working at radio station KDKA, where he played many of his own composi-tions. As a virtuoso pianist, composer, transcriber, conductor, editor and teacher, Mr. Wild continues inthe style of the legendary great artists of the past.

This eminent pianist has built an extensive repertoire over the years, which includes both the stan-dard and modern literature. He has become world renown in particular for his brilliant performances of

Earl Wild

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the virtuoso Romantic works. Today at 83, Mr. Wild continues to record and perform concerts through-out the world. In 1997, he won a Grammy® Award for his disc, “The Romantic Master” – thirteen pianotranscriptions (nine of his own). When he was 79, he recorded a well received Beethoven disc whichincluded the monumental Hammerklavier Sonata, as well as another disc composed of Rachmaninov’sPreludes and the Second Piano Sonata. As an Ivory Classics™ artist, he has just recorded three 20th centu-ry piano sonatas by Barber, Hindemith and Stravinsky as well as a sonata of his own.

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To place an order or to be included on mailing list:Ivory Classics™ • P.O. Box 341068 • Columbus, Ohio 43234-1068

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Credits

Tracks through recorded in 1976 in New York City, RCA Studio A (ADD)

Track recorded June 9, 1969 in New York City, Webster Hall (ADD)

Tracks through recorded in 1966 in London (ADD)

Tracks - and - under licensed from Reader’s Digest Music, A Division of the Reader's Digest Association, Inc.

Remastering Producer: Michael Rolland Davis

High resolution digital remastering:Ed Thompson and Glenn Meadows at Masterfonics, Nashville.

Special thanks to the Michael Palm Foundation

Liner Notes: Marina and Victor Ledin

Design: Communication Graphics

Inside Tray Photo: Earl Wild in 1994

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Tchaikovsky: The Seasons, Op.37bis 35:50January: At the Fireside 3:42February: Carnival 2:15March: Song of the Lark 2:03April: Snowdrop 2:08May: Starlit Nights 3:26June: Barcarolle 4:32July: Song of the Reapers 1:36August: Harvest 2:56September: The Hunt 2:20October: Autumn Song 4:35November: Troika 2:50December: Christmas 3:27

Medtner: Improvisation in B-flat minor, Op.31, No.1Andantino, gracile – Allegretto capriccioso,danzando – Sempre accelerando con grazione –Quazi Valse: Con grazia e poco capriccioso –Pesante – Giacondamente – Tempo I 7:11

Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition 31:30Promenade 1:43Gnomus 2:40Promenade 1:01Il Vecchio Castello 4:30Promenade 0:28Tuileries 1:01Bydlo 1:55Promenade 0:41Ballet of the Chicks in Their Shells 1:02Two Polish Jews, One Rich, the Other Poor 2:16The Market Place at Limoges 1:23The Catacombs (Sepulcrum Romanum) 2:10Con Mortuis in Lingua Mortua 1:54The Hut on Fowl’s Legs (Baba-Yaga) 3:22The Great Gate of Kiev 5:16

Total Playing Time: 75:10

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Remastering Producer: Michael Rolland Davis • Remastering Engineer: Ed ThompsonTracks - and - under license from Reader’s Digest Music,

A Division of The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc.2814121

1999 Ivory Classics™ • All Rights Reserved.Ivory Classics™ • P.O. Box 341068

Columbus, Ohio 43234-1068 U.S.A. Phone: 888-40-IVORY or 614-761-8709 • Fax: 614-761-9799

e-mail@ivoryclassics.com • Website: www.IvoryClassics.com

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Mussorgsky, Medtner & TchaikovskyMussorgsky, Medtner & Tchaikovsky