Modest Mussorgsky : Promenade - The old Castle (Pictures at an Exhibition ) - Antonio Castagna

Pianist Antonio Castagna performs Promenade II and The old Castle from Modest Musorgsky's “Pictures at an Exhibition”. Il pianista Antonio Castagna esegue Promenade II e Il vecchio castello da “Quadri di una esposizione “ di Modest Musorgsky http://www.antoniocastagna.it #antoniocastagna #musorgsky #castle I return once again to Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and propose Piece No. 2, "The Old Castle." A troubadour sings his song in front of the medieval castle. The piece is preceded, as usual, by "Promenade II": Mussorgsky essentially moves among the paintings and changes his mood each time. The paintings I used are those of Maestro Nino Di Simone, with whom I created an interesting performance of music and painting many years ago:    • Antonio Castagna - Nino Di Simone: Quadri ...   Torno nuovamente ai Quadri di una esposizione di Mussorgsky e propongo il brano n. 2, ovvero "Il vecchio castello". Un trovatore intona la sua canzone davanti al castello medievale. Il pezzo è preceduto, come di consueto, dalla Promenade II : Mussorgsky si muove sostanzialmente tra i dipinti e cambia di volta in volta il suo stato d’animo. I quadri che ho utilizzato sono quelli del M° Nino Di Simone con il quale ho realizzato, molti anni fa, una interessante performance di musica e pittura :    • Antonio Castagna - Nino Di Simone: Quadri ...   Born in Karevo, Russia in 1839, Modest Musorgsky is considered one of the most original and influential of the 19th-century Russian nationalist composers. His mother gave him piano lessons. At age nine, he played a piano concerto by John Field before an audience in his parents’ house. At age 13, he was enrolled in a military academy in St. Petersburg and entered the Russian army in 1856. During this time, he sustained his interest in music even though he had not yet studied harmony or composition. In 1857, he joined a circle of Russian nationalist composers from whom he received instruction in composition. In 1858, he resigned from military service to devote himself to music. He began working for the government in 1863 but was dismissed from his post in 1867 because of his heavy drinking. After his dismissal, he spent some time composing. The resulting works include Saint John’s Night on the Bare Mountain, also known as Night on Bald Mountain. In 1869, Musorgsky was reinstalled in his government job and was able to complete the original version of the opera Boris Godunov, which was first produced after considerable changes in 1874. Other works during this time include the song cycles The Nursery (1872) and Songs and Dances of Death (1877), and the piano suite Pictures from an Exhibition (1874). When he died at age 42 from an alcohol-related stroke, many of Musorgsky’s works were unfinished. Some were completed by fellow composers. Among them are the operas Khovanshchina, completed by Rimsky-Korsakov, and The Fair at Sorochinsk, by César Cui. Antonio Castagna graduated from IMP “G. Braga” of Teramo and, subsequently, he perfected himself with Maestro Franco Medori and Maestro Carlo Zecchi. He has held numerous concerts and recitals in Italy and abroad . He has participated several times in RAI radio and television programs. He played in Salzburg as part of the Salzburger Schlosskonzerte and in Paris, at the Italian Cultural Institute, as part of the “Hommage à LA FIGLIA DI JORIO” event. He toured Basel for the Consulate General of Italy. At the invitation of the Italian Cultural Institute, he played in BRAZIL, in Rio de Janeiro, in the prestigious National Museum of Fine Arts. He played, with the Teramo Trio, in Philadelphia (USA) in the Marshall Auditorium of Haverford College, in the Lincoln Hall of the Union League. He was Director, from 1996 to 2012, of the I.S.S.M "Gaetano BRAGA" of Teramo. He was a piano teacher at the Conservatories of Foggia and Teramo.