by Daniel Hathaway
Maurice Ravel’s orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky’s 1874 piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition is ear-baggage for anyone who encounters Pictures in other arrangements. Thus guitarist Jorge Caballero and organist Jean-Baptiste Monnot gave us the intriguing opportunity to hear solo versions of Mussorgsky’s music adapted for plucked and winded instruments within 24 hours. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
The first of two free Sunday afternoon recitals on the McMyler Organ in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art will feature French organist Jean-Baptiste Monnot on November 13 at 2:00 pm. Monnot, who will be making his Cleveland debut this week, is organist of the famous Cavaille-Cöll instrument in the Church of St. Ouen in Rouen.
Monnot will play a program titled “Russian Fireworks,” entirely devoted to transcriptions, including Jean Gillou’s adaptations for the organ of Sergei Prokofiev’s Toccata, Op. 11, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Scherzo from Symphony No. 6, and Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, as well as Monnot’s own reworkings of Alexander Scriabin’s Etude No. 1, Op. 2 and Prélude No. 2, Op. 11. [Read more…]