Fritz Reiner Moussorgsky & Ravel Pictures At An Exhibition 180g 45rpm 2LP (Use code: FREESHIPPING at Checkout Two Orders or More UK Only)

RCA Living Stereo classical LPs - the gold standard for top quality orchestral performance and sound!

Another sonic and musical blockbuster from the unbeatable combo of Reiner and RCA (and Mohr & Layton). Recorded in 1957 at Chicago's Orchestra Hall; the original analog session tapes were used in mastering for LPs. Mussorgsky's inspiration for Pictures was the death of his dear friend, the architect and visual artist Victor Hartman. Having died at age 39, Hartman had not yet had the opportunity to realize any of his architectural visions, and Mussorgsky was angered that his friend would have no legacy. The Architects' Society arranged an exhibition of some of Hartman's sketches — some of architecture, others of characters or scenes from everyday life. The tribute was enough to give Mussorgsky ideas for his composition, but not enough to give Hartman any lasting place in history. Today, of all of the sketches that were captured in music, only six can be positively identified.

The piece is known today primarily through the orchestral version created by Maurice Ravel in 1922. In fact, the work had already been orchestrated multiple times, by a variety of lesser names. Some conductors today find that Ravel's version, in spite of its color, sacrifices some of the coarse nature inherent in Mussorgsky's piano original. Furthermore, Ravel worked from Rimsky-Korsakov's edited version of the piano part - the only one available at the time - which changed some notes and rhythms.