The free concerts held Sundays at LACMA showcase some of the best up-and-coming musicians in the classical world. Yelena Beriyeva is one of these musicians. Born and raised in the Republic of Georgia, this piano titan most likely grew up playing this piece, and it showed. Her grunts and hard breath could be heard at the back of the hall as she hammered out the final movements of Mussorgsky’s masterpiece, bringing three slouched little girls (whom I assume were there for school credit) to an attentive and wide-eyed temperament. After the finale, she stood for her bows, her hair disheveled and dress in need of adjusting, and the audience stood with her. That’s what a piano recital should be. When the performer leaves the stage looking as if she were up all night celebrating life, chances are that what she shared with you was her true, deep passion for the art.
Pictures at an Exhibition, composed for piano in an alleged 6 weeks of 1874, illustrates the journey through an art exhibit paying tribute to one of Mussorgsky’s fallen comrades. It should be found in the repertoire of any piano “virtuoso” and usually clocks in at around 35 minutes. In those 35 minutes, we found Beriyeva carving deep her fervor into the keys; it was as if the audience had vanished and she was alone in that hall to let the intensity overcome her. In no hurry to complete the suite, her hands hovered above the piano between charges of dissonant suspense, and at times would even rest in her lap, forcing the house to ponder and fully understand the chords.
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