Melodiya presents a collection of piano pieces by Modest Mussorgsky.

'Mussorgsky was not only a first-class pianist, he was hardly inferior to Rubinstein', one of the composer’s contemporaries spoke of his pianistic talent.

The well-deserved popularity of the Pictures at an Exhibition unintentionally eclipsed the rest of the composer’s instrumental works written throughout his life. However, it is his piano music that enables us to trace a profound evolution of the composer’s short but extremely eventful creative career.

This album features a complete collection of the composer’s piano pieces, from the Porte-enseigne polka composed at the age of thirteen to the Crimean landscape sketches of 1879 and 1880 inspired by the journey to the Russian south made by the composer together with singer Darya Leonova. The fantasy In the Village, one of Mussorgsky’s last works, was dedicated to Ivan Gorbunov, an actor of the Alexandrinsky Theatre who was known for his brilliant roles of everyday characters.

The programme is supplemented with the composer’s transcriptions of the fragments from the opera The Fair at Sorochyntsi, including the famous 'Gopak', and an arrangement of the Serenade from the cycle 'Songs and Dances of Death' made by outstanding pianist and composer Samuil Feinberg.

Mussorgsky’s pieces are performed by Viktoria Postnikova and Alexander Bakhchiev, the leading Russian pianists of the late 20th century. A number of pieces were recorded by the great pianist of the first half of the century Maria Yudina. Two pieces were recorded in 2016 and 2017 by young performers and prize-winners of prestigious international competitions Elizaveta Mazalova and Sergei Kasprov.