Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition & A Night at Bald Mountain

Featuring

Paavo Järvi
NHK Symphony Orchestra
Modest Mussorgsky

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Modest Mussorgsky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition' is programmatic, illustrating the character of each painting and taking the listener on a fairytale-like journey.

Performer Biography

Paavo Järvi, the conductor, was born and studied in Tallinn before relocating to the United States in 1980, where he studied with Leonard Bernstein.

Recording & Production

This album features three different pieces of Mussorgsky's orchestral music, showcasing his own original version of 'The Night on the Bald Mountain', Ravel's orchestration of 'Pictures at an Exhibition', and Rimsky-Korsakov's orchestration of the 'Khovanschina Interlude'.

Notable Performances

The NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo, first performed Mussorgsky's original version of 'The Night on the Bald Mountain' at the concerts where this live recording was made.

Composition History

The most famous version of 'The Night on the Bald Mountain' was orchestrated by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, who sourced it from two later operatic versions and struggled with it for two years.

Compositional Technique

The original version of Mussorgsky's 'Night on the Bald Mountain' is described as "wilder" than later arrangements, with an often illogical and sometimes impossible-to-play orchestration.

Composer Biography

Mussorgsky's contemporaries were divided in their evaluation of his work; some considered him a dilettante, while others saw him as the greatest natural voice of Russian music.