Mussorgsky - Complete Songs - Christoff

Modeste Mussorgsky (1839-1881)

Complete Songs

Boris Christoff, Bass
Alexandre Labinsky, Piano
Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française
Georges Tzipine

(Angel, recorded 1955-1957)

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Note: This upload was made three year ago, but I've decided to share it again. One never knows: new people come along, others may have missed it, etc. The material it contains has not been changed, including what was written for this upload.

A few days ago, I wrote for an upload: "All great art unites people in human solidarity with one another outside national, political, social and economic boundaries." This fits the art of Mussorgsky as directly reflected in his songs like no other.

But don't wait for our national, political, social and economic - and yes, cultural - leaders of the past or present to get their heads around this kind of thinking about art and music ... because for the most part they never have and they never will. The only people who "get it" - like Mussorgsky himself - are on the outside with the rest of the 99.9%. It's why universal human solidarity - the realization that we're all in it together regardless of who and where we find ourselves - has crucial importance as never before.

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"The art of the past no longer exists as it once did. Its authority is lost. In its place is a language of images [and sounds]. What matters is who uses that language and for what purpose. This touches upon questions of copyright for reproduction, the ownership of art presses and publishers, the total policy of public art galleries and museums. As usually presented, these are narrow professional matters. [...] what is really at stake is much larger. A people or a class which is cut off from its own past is far less free to choose and act as a people or class than one which has been able to situate itself in history. This is why - and this is the only reason why - the entire art [music] of the past has now become a political issue."

- from Ways of Seeing by John Berger and others (1972)

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The 98-page generously illustrated book which accompanies the original edition of Boris Christoff's recording of Mussorgsky's complete songs has for all practical purposes disappeared (although the last time I looked, a copy of this book was being sold at amazon.com for $300.00).

In its original form - like many other sound recordings - this set is an artwork in itself. While the preservation of artworks has long been practiced, for example, within the visual and plastic arts - this kind of vital conservation has not been universally extended to sound recordings. Many libraries do not consider original sound recordings (or even historical catalogues of sound recordings newly produced by scholars) as deserving preservation in their collections. And it goes without saying that it's not possible to walk into a private record collector's hoard in the manner one walks into a public art museum. While reissues of recordings have undeniable value, the kind of preservation I'm referring to does not simply consist in marketing more or less updated versions of older recordings by means of CD compilations. What is meant here is something altogether different: the preservation, when it exists, of the integral WHOLE of an artwork.

This ongoing situation is extremely unjust to the efforts of those - Christoff, Kirkpatrick and others - who produced these artworks containing specific content so that people benefit from this specific content. No one benefits from artworks when they effectively or literally disappear under the present system. Regardless of how or why artworks disappear, the result is always the same: people are cut off, in the process, from their own past.

The purpose of this upload is to make the original set available so that at least some might experience it. The late 1990's CD edition of these recordings supplies no real idea of what was included in the original edition - as though Christoff's commentaries and specific concept for presenting the Mussorgsky songs had never existed.

Boris Christoff begins his extensive commentaries for the complete Mussorgsky songs with the following remarks:

"It was profound admiration for the genius of Modeste Moussorgsky that induced me to devote myself to the art of singing; and thus the whole course of my life was changed, for previously I had planned on a career in law. The new artistic horizons that the discovery of Moussorgsky's music revealed led me to establish myself in Italy - where all arts are born - and here I was able to develop as man and artist. In this entirely favorable atmosphere I consecrated myself entirely to music. Later I made several appearances in France, where my interpretations of Russian music won prompt recognition. These successes aroused the desire of making a complete recording of Moussorgsky's melodies, and I am grateful to 'His Master's Voice' for having given me the opportunity of realizing this recording with the valuable collaboration of M. René Challan.

In the present recording, I have adopted a strictly chronological order, with the intention of giving a clear idea of the development of his work. But here I must warn the listener that it is impossible divide Moussorgsky's artistic life into periods of rise and decline, since, on the contrary, Moussorgsky's work keeps to a uniformly high level from the start.

An exact and true interpretation of the composer's work requires an intimite and detailed knowledge of nearly the whole of his life; for in no other composer's work is the relation between life and art so close and inseparable. All of his compositions are inspired by circumstances of his life, or by psychological states resulting from actual happenings or from exchanges with friends, acquaintances, or artistic personalities. For this reason - without occupying myself with technical phraseology - I have provided historical and aesthetic commentary of every song with the view of aiding the listener's understanding."

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LP transfer of above described material. Includes cover, label and 98 page illustrated book, etc. with text written by Boris Christoff, et al. All song texts included (notes and song texts in English, French, Italian with Russian originals).