Description
“Pictures at an Exhibition” of Musorgskij is, according to the brilliant interpreter Sviatoslav Richter, the most beautiful composition for piano in all Russian music but, unfortunately, it is ruined by the orchestration of Ravel. Zdorenko, in her interpretation of this classic, finds a very personal approach both regarding the construction and the expression, overcoming with confidence the difficulty of a strictly technical nature. Her Promenade that, as everybody knows, joins the ten pieces in one only cycle, cones from afar and gradually gets closer to explode in a thousand of sounds and colours in the conclusive “The Great Door of Kiev” (the pianist’s city of birth). Although the beginning has a rather lyrical and singable nature, the classical “russico” and “senza allegrezza” styles are not missing, as requested by the author himself. “The Gnome” or “Gnomus” by Zdorenko is slower and rather heavy, just to better correspond to the tiny and clumsy image of the character. In “The Old Castle” maybe we don’t find that magical nostalgia of the medieval troubadour, which we are used to, but a low suitability for the voice sleeped in a soft pain. The scene of the arguing children in the avenue of the “Tuileries” is very picturesque with a un poco piu ritenuto Trio, coloured with insults and consolations. The “Bydlo” expresses not only the exterior image of the Polish cart with its enormous wheels, but in particular, the hard work of those carrying it. In the tender dance of “Pulcini“, the interpreter gives to the piece some surprising rubato and accelerando, rendering it even more funny and amusing. Also the next picture, the unequal discussion between the poor and the rich Hebrews, is performed with optimum recitative intonation: one voice is deep, energetic and self-confident, the other is imploring, sad, almost humiliated.
