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Be A Promenade, Foto: Heinz Ebenstein

Pictures at an Exhibition as a gateway to art
Two accordion ensembles: Akkordeonorchester-Vereinigung Wiener Akkordeonclub Favoriten & Accordeana Graz

Event: Sat 24. April 2021   19:30 - 21:30

Music combines with literature, drama, mime, painting and photography, in a contrast between the historical and the contemporary. All of this takes place on a single, highly unusual evening, with Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” taking centre stage.

Mussorgsky’s 1874 piano suite is a fine example of narrative programme music, and is considered something of a template for the form. Each movement describes a painting or drawing by Mussorgsky’s friend Viktor Hartmann, who died a year earlier. The composer had seen these works at a memorial exhibition. A series of Promenades serves to link each picture to the next. In these Promenades, Mussorgsky voiced the viewer’s stroll through the exhibition with music that progressively changed, holding a trace of the previous melody, or hinting at the next motif to come.

“Pictures at an Exhibition” has been arranged for accordion orchestra by Thomas Bauer in a style that remains true to the original. It is performed here by the Accordion Orchestra Association of Vienna’s Favoriten district & Accordeana Graz, conducted by Christian Höller.

Tickets: Band A €28/ B €24/ C €20; box seats €38; MuTh Club Students, children and young people: €15

Programme:
Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
Readings: Extracts from correspondence between Mussorgsky and Viktor Hartmann

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