Mussorgsky Portrait: The Double

Recorded at the same time as Pictures at an Exhibition, veteran pianist Vladimir Miller is joined by close friend pianist and producer Steve Plews. Here the two present a mercurial portrait of Mussorgsky and an animated soundscape exploring the life and writings of Dostoevsky. There are echoes of Cecil Taylor, influences of Don Pullen, Jaki Byard, Bill Evans both pianists lovers of contemporary Jazz piano referring to their heroes but always retaining their own style.

Mussorgsky Portrait is a musical picture of an alcoholic genius. Improvising composers Miller and Plews paint a picture of a tormented man who one day would be composing obsessively and then the next be found wandering the streets mumbling to himself, suffering from delirium tremens.

Alcohol eventually destroyed him. Repin painted the famous red-nosed portrait in what were to be the last days of the composer's life: a week after his 42nd birthday, he was dead.

The Double (Modest Trio are joined by Steve Plews on piano and Dan Styffe on double bass) is a collection of improvisations and compositions inspired by the novella "The Double" by Fyodor Dostoevsky." Vladimir Miller