Mussorgsky, M.: Pictures at an Exhibition (Orchestrations Compiled by L. Slatkin) / Liszt, F.: Piano Concerto No. 1
3/30/2009, 20 Tracks, 57:07
Featuring
Peng-Peng Gong
Leonard Slatkin
Nashville Symphony
Franz Liszt
Modest Mussorgsky
John Stafford Smith
Did you know?
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Compositional Technique
Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 is novel in its form, featuring cyclically connected movements and controversially including a triangle in the Scherzo, which led a critic to call it a 'triangle concerto'.
Composition History
Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition was inspired by a St Petersburg exhibition of sketches and paintings by his recently deceased friend, artist and architect Viktor Hartmann.
Critical Reception
Despite Mussorgsky's conviction in its inspiration, Pictures at an Exhibition's 'spacious canvas and orchestral pianism' initially impaired its international status as a Russian classic.
Composition History
Maurice Ravel received 10,000 francs in 1922 to orchestrate Pictures at an Exhibition for the influential Russian émigré conductor Serge Koussevitzky, which helped end the work's relative obscurity.
Performer Biography
The pianist on this recording, Peng Peng, was sixteen years old at the time of the recording and had already won first prize in the 2002 China National Youth Piano Competition.
Compositional Technique
Mussorgsky completed his piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition in less than three weeks in June 1874, selecting ten of Hartmann's images and threading his own 'promenader' physiognomy through the work.
Recording & Production
This album features orchestrations of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition compiled by Leonard Slatkin, showcasing the ingenuity of no fewer than fifteen different composers.
