Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition

[abigailky]

Hi,
I need to find new repertoire soon and I was just doing some research.  I love Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky but I'm afraid I wouldn't be able/have enough time to learn it! I was wondering if I could play one picture on its own? My favourite is Gnomus... I just love it! I'm just asking if you think it's ok to play Gnomus on its own. It might sound incomplete, I know, but I'd really like to play it!
Thanks,
Abi     

[birba]

Who's going to stop you?  It could stand by itself, i think, in a soiree musicale or student recital.

[niluh01]

Of course you can do that. Even concert pianists, sometimes just take one movement of a sonata and play it as an encore. There are no rules here, if it's a nice piece it can always be enjoyed by it's own.

[lostinidlewonder]

Of course you can perform just one piece from a collection in any situation. There are people who will tell you it is wrong but they are closed minded and stupid.

[j_menz]

Of course you can perform just one piece from a collection in any situation. There are people who will tell you it is wrong but they are closed minded and stupid.

I doubt one of the interludes would be suitable in isolation - rather like a bridge without shores.

[lostinidlewonder]

The thing is you could do it if you wanted to, if you had a reason to do it. I've had people cry I did a Prelude and not a Fugue when I played a WTC, or they cry that I didn't do all 3 movements of a Beethoven Sonata, or not all 24 Chopin etudes if I played one... Honestly, art is art, there are no rules just what people think they should expect to see. That how I see it anyway.
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[j_menz]

Honestly, art is art, there are no rules just what people think they should expect to see. That how I see it anyway.
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No rules, I agree - but certainly some guiding principles.  What you play in isolation must stand in isolation. I used the example of the interludes to show an example of what would not. A piece of music whose sole purpose is to link two ideas cannot be presented in isolation and be expected to be intelligible.

As regards the prelude in isolation from the fugue, or the sonata movement orphaned from the sonata - why? Was time so limited and the available repertoire so poor that a complete piece could not be presented (albeit maybe a different one)? You are representing the composer when you perform a work and it seems rather impudent to suggest that some part of what a composer included is in someway not required.  Art is art - but you are trying to present a single leg as a complete statue.

[lostinidlewonder]

It can certainly seem like that jmenz but many others wouldn't see it like that, that's the point in trying to put across. Performers should feel like they have the artistic freedom to present anything they like, if we all conform to tradition then things are quite bland.

[j_menz]

Performers should feel like they have the artistic freedom to present anything they like, if we all conform to tradition then things are quite bland.

Composers have that freedom, performers do not. Performers owe a duty to the text. If you feel the result of that is bland, you are performing the wrong piece, or have missed your calling.

[lostinidlewonder]

J-menz can you show me in the rule book where it says that? Or that this rule book exists eheheh

[j_menz]

J-menz can you show me in the rule book where it says that? Or that this rule book exists eheheh

It's on page three:

[lostinidlewonder]

rofl jmenz that made my day !

[abigailky]

Haha, thanks for your opinions guys. I think I'll give it a go 

[birba]

It's on page three:

that is priceless.  If i was still at the theatre i would post it in the orchestra's dressing room.  They would love it.  SOOO true!

[indianajo]

With the addition of commercials to classical FM radio stations in the "non-commercial" part of the band, it is rare to hear a long suite played all at once anymore.  If I want to hear Holtz's Planets as a suite, I have to spin up the record player. And that involves turning over the record after 25 minutes.   So certainly, people in the audience should be used to hearing the Gnome on its own.
AbigailKy, are you in Kentucky?  Within reach of Wuol Louisville or Wlky Lawrenceburg?  You'll know what I mean. 
And as far as learning the whole suite goes, I've been working on Pictures at an Exhibition on and off for 30 years.  Now that I am retired I am just getting the hang of the final section.  But don't expect to hear me on the radio, it takes me an hour an a half still, which would go right across the hourly required radio ID break.  Any real audience would dash for the bathrooms somewhere in the middle, and can anybody go without twittering that long anymore? The Louisville Orchestra raced through it in 45 minutes last month.  At least I got to hear it live, not on vinyl.  My favorite version is Carl Richter and the Chicago Symphony, 1958. 

[abigailky]

Umm, no. In fact I'm far away from Kentucky, I'm in Britain and not American at all! 

[oxy60]

AbigailKy, are you in Kentucky?  Within reach of Wuol Louisville or Wlky Lawrenceburg?  You'll know what I mean. 

I was watching TV which was like being there for the famous 2 min 2 sec last Sat. and watched as guys I know gave it their all. Do you know what I'm talking about?

[indianajo]

Quite an exhibition May 5 over in Louisville.  Unfortunately, that trumpet solo doesn't do anything for me.  A horse won, but considering the weather it could have been a hippopotamus as easily.  Fortunately, I'm far enough away there weren't any traffic accidents in my yard.  Louisville is big enough to support a professional symphony orchestra, but small enough traffic accidents don't cause gunfights.  And we have a classical FM radio station, which despite the frequency low key commercials, is something neither Atlanta, Nashville, or Jacksonville had when I drove through last year.