Khatia Buniatishvili - Kaleidoscope // Album Preview

These images leave a deep mark in the memory: Bydło, the old ox cart that rumbles past us, the gloomy catacombs, the strange goings-on in the Tuileries, the great gate of Kiev. The artist’s name has almost been forgotten, but the paintings live on because Modest Mussorgsky translated them into sound with such genius. “Pictures at an Exhibition”, a one-of-a-kind museum visit, a global hit.

There can be no question that one day Khatia Buniatishvili wanted to, had to make a recording of this famous work. Kaleidoscope, the name of the new album, is a consciously ambiguous title, as in addition to Mussorgsky this recording includes “La Valse” by Maurice Ravel and three movements from Igor Stravinsky’s ballet “Petrushka”– three works that all exist in two versions, for piano and orchestra; that have all been choreographed as ballet; three works to be contemplated with the inner eye.

Modest Mussorgsky
Pictures at an Exhibition

Track 1: Promenade I 0:00 – 0:29
Track 4: The Old Castle 0:30 – 1:04
Track 6: The Tuileries Garden 1:05 – 1:32
Track 9: The Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks 1:33 – 1:58
Track 10: Samuel Goldenberg und Schmuÿle 1:59 – 2:33
Track 12: The Market at Limoges 2:34 – 2:56
Track 14: Cum Mortuis In Lingua Mortua 2:57-3:29
Track 15 The Hut on Fowl’s Legs 3:30- 4:02
Track 16 : The Heroic Gate 4:03 – 4:44

Maurice Ravel
Track 17: La Valse 4:45-5:18

Igor Stravinsky
From Petrushka
Track 1: Russian Dance 5:19 – 5:53
Track 3: The Shrovetide Fair 5:54 – 6:24

[lagunagreg]

No doubt Buniatishvili is one of the most capable technicians on the concert stage today. There isn't anything she can't do, and very often faster and louder than anyone else. However, being able to play something as fast as possible does not make it music, as well as rushing through everything one plays, both faults the artist can often be accused of. Certainly Sony thinks she is a very marketable commodity for a variety of reasons. The rest of us just hope that she grows up as she grows older, learns to slow down and enjoy the details, and develops at the least some rhythmic if not artistic restraint. It's where all the Art really is.

[veraevans]

Why did they make her look like a horror ghoul on the album cover? Anyway, Khatia, Impress me by putting out an album with everything Liszt ever transcribed from ROSSINI. Please. The sheer lack of engaging melody on this album is remarkable.