MUSSORGSKY-RAVEL- Pictures at an Exhibition, SPOTIFY PLAYLIST

One of the most universally popular, original and most recorded pieces ever written. Mussorgsky originally wrote this for unaccompanied piano and Ravel then transcribed it for orchestra, the version in which it is most frequently performed. The piece has many segments each portraying a different picture in an art exhibit.

The orchestral version on RCA by Reiner is a wonderful example of powerful, romantic symphonic music. It is a good example of the "Reiner Sound" and has become the gold standard for the piece and for recorded symphonic music generally. It is often found on lists of the dozen or 100 best recordings.

Mussorgsky was a member of a group of 5 Russian composers who self taught themselves composition to break out of old forms and traditions. They are discussed under the entry for Rimsky-Korsakov.

The original piano version is less known and the recording of it by Pletnev has won many awards and is also considered one of the best recordings ever made. Both the orchestral and piano versions are shown below. I don't know which I prefer as they are so different - yet the same.

Note that the two recordings show somewhat different names for the 15 pieces. This often occurs in classical music as the original titles were Russian and somebody had to translate them. Unfortunately there are no naming conventions in classical music for composer's names, music titles or anything else so when you search you have to be persistent and creative.