Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881)
Pictures at an Exhibition (1874)
Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
Élégy
Préludes
Études-Tableaux
Naum Grubert (piano)
rec. 1992, Singelkerk, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Navis Classics NC24015 [73]

Naum Grubert has produced a number of new recordings on the Navis Classics label, with some fine Beethoven sonatas (review ~ review) and an extensive Chopin recital (review), but the present disc sees the reappearance of a recording released in 1993 on the Emergo Classics label, now remastered by the owner and founder of Navis Classics Daan van Aalst. When it comes to sonics I don’t have the original for comparison, but the crisp piano sound reminds me a little of Vladimir Ashkenazy’s Decca recording from 1999, that one with both the piano solo and Ashkenazy’s orchestral version on the same disc.

Along with this suitably transparent piano sound we are immediately taken on a briskly paced first Promenade that promises a no-nonsense traversal of this popular masterpiece. Grubert’s timing over the whole piece is almost identical to Ashkenazy’s at just over 32 minutes, so unconventional tempi are not to be expected. Grubert has written detailed booklet notes on each piece for this release, and each movements has its own access point so this is an excellent study version as well as a superb performance. Gnomus has all of the drama and contrast you could ask for, the Old Castle is atmospheric as well as having an admirable clarity, the music of the troubadour luminous through the picture of “a poetic past, long since gone.” Clarity again makes the Tuileries a delight rather than the helter-skelter white-knuckle ride it can sometimes turn into, the weight of Bydlo coming as a shock but in a brisk tempo that avoids lugubrious lingering. Swiftness and a light touch provide magic for The Ballet of Unhatched Chicks, and Grubert’s wide-ranging “Samuel” Goldenberg und “Schmuyle” has a symphonic character despite its brevity. Limoges is suitably bustling with stunningly articulated repeated notes, Mussorgsky throwing us from life into death with the following Catacombae, over which Grubert casts a striking spell of doom with extremes of dynamic contrast – the hardness of stone amidst the deepest of shadows. A Hut on Hen’s Legs has a climactic feel in its wild virtuosity, the narrative character it gains here carrying us in all its “brute power and vulgarity” unerringly towards the magnificent The Great Gate of Kiev. This is a great performance and recording of Pictures at an Exhibition among hundreds of other great recordings, but with its satisfying narrative arc both at micro and macro level this version is very much able to hold its own and indeed triumph over many of its competitors.

The disc is rounded off with a selection of works composed by Sergei Rachmaninov before he emigrated from Russia in 1917, his life broken into two phases by the Russian revolution. The aim of this selection is to “give an adequate idea of the wonderful depth, originality and diversity of Rachmaninov’s lyrical gift.” As with Mussorgsky, Grubert infuses these pieces with all of the emotional and poetic gravity you could ask for, without wallowing in over-egged drama or swollen sentimentality. The virtuosity here is all in the service of the music – breathtaking for sure, but a secondary consideration to the feel of communication behind every note. The famous Prélude in C-sharp minor, Op. 3/2 is a case in point, played with all of its linear qualities intact and its harmonies perfectly weighed even when everything seems to be happening all at once. These are the kind of performances that can cure any Rachmaninov critic who dislikes his style as having ‘too many notes’. To be sure these are earlier works, but there is no glutinous thickness anywhere here and you find yourself involved with each piece with an enquiring ear, wondering what will happen next and coming up with pleasant surprises even in the more familiar pieces. 

There is little information to be found anywhere on the original release of this recording, and for all its excellent qualities we can be grateful that it is once again easily available. This musical ground is of course well-trodden, but there is an unmistakeable freshness and vividly imaginative intellect behind each performance, making the whole something that is of considerable value to piano enthusiasts and collectors of Russian music alike.

Dominy Clements

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Contents
Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881)
Pictures at an Exhibition
Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
Élégy in E flat minor, Op. 3/1
Prélude in C-sharp minor, Op. 3/2
Prélude in F-sharp minor, Op. 23/1
Prélude in G major, Op. 32/5
Prélude in B minor, Op. 32/10
Étude-Tableau in E-flat major, Op. 33/4
Étude-Tableau in C major, Op. 33/2
Étude-Tableau in A minor, Op. 39/2
Étude-Tableau in A minor, Op. 39/6
Étude-Tableau in E-flat minor, Op. 39/4