Ameling, Ansermet, L'orchestra de la Suisse Romande - Mussorgsky : Pictures at an Exhibition

Esoteric Masterpiece Collection

Limited edition 180-gram vinyl

Remastered from the original master tapes!

A victim of alcoholism, composer Modest Mussorgsky died at 46 but left a remarkably rich legacy — authentic, bold, earthy, and intensely vivid Russian music.

Pictures at an Exhibition proved to be a welcome rarity in Mussorgsky's anguished experience-a composition born quickly and virtually painlessly. Reporting to his friend Vladimir Stasov about the progress of the original piano suite, Mussorgsky exulted: "Ideas, melodies, come to me of their own accord. Like roast pigeons in the story, I gorge and gorge and overeat myself. I can hardly manage to put it all down on paper fast enough." The fevered inspiration was activated by a posthumous exhibit in 1874 of watercolors and drawings by the composer's dear friend Victor Hartmann, who had died suddenly the previous year at the age of 39. Mussorgsky's enthusiastic and reverent homage to Hartmann takes form as a series of musical depictions of 10 of the artist's canvases, all of which hang as vividly in aural space as their visual progenitors occupied physical space.

As heard most often in present-day performances, Pictures wears the opulent apparel designed by Maurice Ravel, who was urged by conductor Serge Koussevitzky to make an orchestral transcription of the piano set, which he did in 1922. The results do honor to both composers: The elegant Frenchman did not deprive the music of its realistic muscle, bizarre imagery, or intensity, but heightened them through the use of marvelously apt instrumentation.

Classical masterpiece collection

The Esoteric's Masterpiece Collection Series brings back superb performance created by using Esoteric's high-end equipment, under the supervision of producer Motoaki Ohmachi. The vinyl records of the Masterpiece Collection has been reissued by remastering the original master, exclusive for the vinyl records.

Remastering

Producer: Motoaki Ohmachi (Esoteric Mastering Center)
Associated Producer: Jo Yoshida (Esoteric Mastering Center)
Mastering Engineer: Masaya Tohno (Esotertic Mastering Center)
Cutting Engineer: Katsutoshi Kitamura (Mixer's Lab)

Made in Japan

 

 

Side A

1. Promenade - Gnomus

2. Promenade - Il vecchio castello

3. Promenade – Tuileries

4. Bydlo

5. Promenade - Ballet of the chickens in their shells

6. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle

7. The market-place at Limoges –Catacombae (Sepulcrum romanum) - Cum mortuis in lingua mortua

Side B

1. The hut on fowl's legs (Baba Yaga) - The great gate at Kiev

Franz Liszt

2. Hunnenschlacht, Symphonic Poem

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