Here’s an Eastern European production from the early 1970s that few Western collectors will have previously encountered. Among piano versions of Mussorgsky’s great cycle, Peter Rösel’s is a veritable sleeper. While he brings ample freedom and imaginative nuance to every movement, he never lapses into Pogorelich’s willful dragging nor Kissin’s overly cute reverse accents and self-conscious rubatos. To confirm my observation, do a three-way comparison among these pianists in Gnomus or the Old Castle. Rösel achieves shattering momentum in a heavy-gaited Bydlo, and contrastingly breezes through the Ballet of the Chicks in their Shells and the Market Place at Limoges with deft, supple fingerwork. If the short pieces that fill out the disc don’t match Mussorgsky’s heights of inspiration in Pictures, Rösel’s loving, committed performances nearly convince me otherwise. In sum, here’s a distinctive Pictures to consider alongside the above-mentioned reference versions.
