One of the most metal moments in classical music
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- Опубликовано: 28 июн 2024
- The penultimate movement of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, "The hut of Baba Yaga", rightfully deserves a spot on the top metal moments in classical music. And not just because of its punchy onslaught of rhythmic motifs, the heavy and powerful bass lines or its general unapologetic savagery. The various harmonic innovations present in the movement are quite similar to those employed in the harmonic structures of metal: Phrygian progressions emphasising the use of bII, obstinate pedal points and a predilection for the tritone interval. Brief, abrupt and detached rhythmic cells are joined into rhythmic phrases with a distinctive, often jerky texture and rhythmic patterns are often repeated.
A quick search on the extramusical inspiration of this piece, Baba Yaga, and we begin to understand the wickedness that Mussorgsky was going for. A reference to the hut on chicken legs is made at 00:17 with acciaccaturas that recall a previous movement "Ballet of Unhatched Chicks". Ravel's orchestration leaves absolutely nothing to be desired with the strings taking the foreground here, while percussionists have a ball with their extended use that recalls even Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.
Recording (Dudamel): • Moussorgski, Tableaux ...
if mussorgsky read "most metal moments", he would pause for a moment, think of steel mills and industry, and be utterly confused.
Not that much. Futurism became a thing a couple of years later
And then he would say "no, I get it"
It kinda sounds like what I imagine a steel mill would sound like tbh
If I had a time machine I'd love to bring composers from the past to the modern world and see what they think of contemporary music.
Always think of that scene from Bill and Ted where Beethoven gets arrested after letting rip on a load of electronic keyboards 😅
Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky is an interesting subject and it's always interesting to find out if someone prefers the original piano piece, Ravel's orchestration or even Ashkenazy's which some say sounds more Russian. Sviatoslav Richter expresses his own view in one of his notebooks:
"I disapprove of transcriptions, unless they are by the composer; the original always strikes me as better. Much as I love Ravel’s music, I find his orchestral transcription of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition an abomination, a terrible, decorative travesty of the most profound masterpiece of Russian piano music. There was a time, unfortunately not entirely past, when pianists - and audiences - were fond of this sort of attack on art."
Personally, I like the orchestration quite well. It sounds much grander and fitting for this piece.
I honestly agree with Richter in a way, although not quite so dogmatically. Ravel's orchestration only really resonates for me with the Great Gate of Kiev, but even then only in sections of it. It's a great attempt at transcribing the piece, but it still doesn't quite capture the essence the original has.
How many people would know PAE without Ravel's orchestration?
I think it's great when artists collaborate across the generations, even the centuries. Consider Vaughan Williams' "Songs of Travel", setting the poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson to music, or Robert Quilter setting Shakespeare's sonnets to music.
Richter is harsh, but after I heard Mussorgsky's original 40 years ago I never went back to Ravel. Especially the orchestration of this fragment (Baba Yaga) is inferior.
@@marknieuweboer8099Honestly, to each their own. The orchestration captures a different vibe when compared to the original piano piece, and that's okay. Different colors for different artists; both have merit.
As much as i love ravel's orchestration, you gotta give it to mussorgsky, the original piece sounds really „orchestral” by itself, especially promenades and the great gate of kiev, i've always liked to think of pictures at an exhibition as a piano prototype of what was supposed to be an orchestral piece, because let's face it, it really sounds as though it was written for orchestra, gotta give it to the man
@@karolzurek3407 it's funny because Mussorgsky wasn't very confident of his orchestration abilities but it's clear that he had very orchestral sonorities in mind when he wrote for piano and it shows
@@skylarlimex exactly what i mean, even in the first promenade he uses this very soft counterpoint that reminds me of piano transcriptions of orchestra pieces, and i really love night on the bald mountain, mussorgsky for me overally is the perfect bridge between classical form and the harmony of more modern composers, gotta be one of my favorites of all time
Edit: we can see that kind of „orchestral” counterpoint even here in the hut of baba yaga
Emerson Lake & Palmer did it pretty well too. 😁
Yes, for me it is the best version
@@joustwave6541 not familiar, I'll check it out!
They literally made it into hard rock, it's great fun
ELP works are so good
I think that my favorite so far is Tarkus tho
Actually one of my favourite versions of this piece is Yamashita’s transcription for Guitar, it’s really incredible
@@averageclassicalmusicenjoyer incredibly difficult too I imagine!
It's so good, one of the first classical pieces I fell in love with
So addictive
These are some of the best music videos on the 'net. Thank you!
@@LeeGee Thanks so much!
Ravel's orchestration skills are straight up stunning
yay, recognized it from the thumbnail
Quite an arresting opening
Quite an arresting opening
Practicing this on the piano was the only time in 20 years that my neighbors banged on the wall.
😆
They were just jamming along perhaps
@@skylarlimex Not after I practiced it for forty minutes! 😁
the entire pictures at an exhibition is probably my favorite piece of all time, its just so good
I love Pictures at an Exhibition!!!
Ahhh yes, the baba yaga portrait. It's actually metal if you think about it.
A story about walking hut, that lures kids inside to eat them.
That passes for a fun kids story in Russia.
Does not get any more metal.
Exactly
Yay I love Russian horror stories aka fairytales. 😊 My favourite is Vasilissa, who's abused by her stepmother and two stepsisters and goes to find employment at a wizard. Returns with a skull lantern on a stick and the skull's gaze incinerates her stepmother and stepsisters.
Another one is based on a historical person: Princess Olga, whose husband was killed and the occupying tribe proposed to her. She had the wannabe groom gutted or something?
Russians aren't the kind of folks you wanna mess with 😅.
Thank you. Fun.
Mussorgsky's original piano score is even more metal.
Modest even looked like a metalhead in his later, sadly worse for alcohol, years.
Love this piece, has a real videogame feel to it too. Especially like how it sagues into The Great Gates without pause
There is also The Field Marshal which has a pretty damn metal feel to it (especially with Shostakovich's orchestration and a baritone or bass singing it).
I played the original piano version of this (and The Great Gate of Kiev) for my junior recital, and I especially loved this one because it felt right out of a John Williams action cue.
What a great achievement! Many congrats
0:06 This part is used in Samaels 'Baphomets throne'
Cheers, I'm the only other one who pointed that out.
Samael is the best
Want to hear this more metal? Mekong Delta's cover of "The Hut of Baba Yaga" should do it. They are a progressive thrash metal band. They have a version on their self-titled and another recorded about 9 years later on their album called "Pictures at an Exhibition."
Ravel is truly genius in orchestration
Thank you. Agree, high drama !
Oh god... opening has the same motif as in Samael- Baphomet's Throne. Haven't heard that song in like 15 years and yet it instantly comes to mind. So yeah... that's metal as fuck
I agree
Great analysis. Somehow I never made the connection with "Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks", maybe because I heard this movement (many times) long before I listened to the rest of the work, but it's undeniable. Hut on chicken legs refers back to the unhatched chicks. Genius. And Ravel noticed, orchestrating it the same way in both movements. For people grousing about this being orchestrated: (1) Orchestration was inevitable (there are many different orchestrations of this) and Ravel did it better than anyone; (2) But if you want to get mad on Mussorgsky's behalf, the Rimsky-Korsakov bastardisation of Bald Mountain is a more appropriate target. Talk about "correcting irregularities" - it's much more true of Bald Mountain.
Sampled in Samael's "Baphomets Throne"
0:06-0:22 is extremely 2010s Tuomas Holopainen, so yes this is quite metal indeed
Any pieces in particular?
@@skylarlimexTuomas is best known as the mastermind behind, well, Nightwish.
One track that immediately springs to to mind is Noise, another is Ghost River. Storytime is also a good shout here.
Jaws and Psycho inspiration
Is there a better evocation of maniacal evil in music?
que buen analisis chee...
@@GiulianoValentinSanchez Y muchos más por venir!
What about Shostakovitch's 8th strings quartett? The TwoSetters know which one I'm talking about.
@@lindildeev5721 oh shosta has plenty of metal moments
Proud to hit the 666th like for this video
Lol Babayaga from Pictures At An Exhibition.
Not a bad transcription. But the piano version had more punch and is more like “metal” to me.
Mussorgski invented metal and Debussy invented jazz
*Ravel
(Maybe both)
Vivaldi has entered the chat
Beethoven invented jazz.
@@pierfrancescopeperoni bach did
@@silver1788 Which piece do you refer to?
It would slap if you made a cover of it with Metallica-like electric guitar gains and drums.
animusic
Why do people presume that MM wrote this for piano because he thought that would be the optimal rendering, rather than having limited time or resources? A dramatic evocative piece like this screams for rich instrumentation, including non-percussion instruments.
original piano version is better
@@dariopa21 Fair
This is like the one time i disagree and like the arrangement more
timbre, piano do not sound good playing low notes
So ein Unsinn!
Lim is schlimm!