Analysis Of Modest Mussorgsky's Ballad Of The Chicks In Their Shell

Modest Mussorgsky wrote Pictures at an Exhibition in remembrance of his friend, Viktor Hartmann, who died because of an aneurysm. Mussorgsky was inspired by an exhibition of more than four hundred works by Hartmann and emotions he experienced during his exploration of the exhibition that was arranged by many of Hartmann’s friends..Pictures of an Exhibition, which was originally a work for solo piano, was orchestrated by Maurice Ravel many years later.
I felt that the Chicago Symphony Orchestra does something really unique that educates their audience to the background behind the music, which is something that the audience may never know under normal circumstances. As they describe it, music has a lot to say and it speaks more if you understand
It is light and quick, played primarily by woodwinds like oboe, clarinet, and flute. No instruments rests on one note for too long, and everything is played at a comfortable mezzo piano. The movement Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle is very similar to Gnomus with its similar instrumentation and tone, but the dark part is juxtaposed by the stuttering response on a muted trumpet. This movement is a slower tempo and very repetitive. The movement Marketplace at Limoges feels quick and busy, similar to the Chicks movement, but it’s a lower and denser sound. Eventually the business increases and builds into a swell of drama, quickly returning to the bustling feeling from before. This repeats multiple times. Catacombs begins with a similar craziness to the previous movement, but shifts to a more somber a dark tune. The notes elongate, feeling like something lurking in the room more than a melody. Con Mortuis in Lingua Mortua doesn’t feel as dark. There are moments and light and happiness, with bursts of anger. Mussorgsky’s frustration with Hartmann’s death can be felt here. The Hut of Baba Yaga quietly reintroduces the Promenade melody for the first time since it had its own movement. This movement is soft and haunting, as is one is walking in a foggy forest alone and knows that something is wrong. It surprisingly ends on a more hopeful note. In the Great Gate of Kiev is powerful and aggressive at the beginning with a heavy focus on brass. It becomes light, allowing room for a variation of the Promenade theme that becomes more grand and triumphant with every repetition. It ends with a confident flourish from the entire orchestra accompanied by various cymbal crashes