Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky
Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition
Inspired by the Chicago Public Library’s One Book, One Chicago, Ravinia’s One Score, One Chicago initiative promotes the enjoyment of classical music and creates a cultural touchstone to enable people of diverse backgrounds to engage in community-wide discussion of selected masterworks. This year Ravinia has chosen Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, a piano work that has also become famous in a version orchestrated by Maurice Ravel.
Mussorgsky’s only large work for piano, Pictures at an Exhibition was inspired by an 1874 art exhibit of works by Victor Alexandrovich Hartmann, a close friend of Mussorgsky’s who had recently died, and the various movements represent actual water-colors, sketches, architectural drawings and designs. Now considered a repertoire standard, the work suffered a fluctuating status typical of many of Mussorgsky’s other works. It was first published five years after Mussorgsky’s death and subsequently ignored for nearly half a century. It wasn’t until Maurice Ravel created a brilliant orchestral transcription in 1923 that it won popularity, becoming the best-known of Mussorgsky’s works and the stimulus for a rediscovery of his other compositions, many of which had also been arranged or “corrected” by other composers.
The works of Victor Hartmann inspired the writing of Pictures at an Exhibition.
In recent decades, musicians and audiences have rediscovered the originality and uniqueness of Mussorgsky’s works as he composed them, and while the orchestration by Ravel—as well as numerous additional orchestrations by others—remains an orchestral favorite, the original piano version of Pictures at an Exhibition has become a popular showpiece for virtuosic pianists. The Russian keyboard wizard Vladimir Feltsman will perform the piano version on July 3 in a Martin Theatre recital; Ravinia Music Director James Conlon will conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the Ravel orchestration on July 8 in the pavilion.
Resource Guide
Click here to view the resource guide available exclusively on Ravinia’s website.
Concerts
Saturday, July 3, 2010 - Vladimir Feltsman will perform Pictures at an Exhibition.
Thursday, July 8, 2010 - Pinchas Zukerman, Amanda Forsyth and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will perform Pictures at an Exhibiton with the spectacular orchestration of Ravel.
Related Events
Saturday, July 24 12:00 – 1:00pm – Concert by pianist Adam Marks, Fullerton Hall, Art Institute of Chicago.
Art and Music
Inspired by Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition Ravinia Festival partnered with the Art Institute of Chicago to introduce children and the public to connections between music and art. Click here to see examples of art inspired by music at the Art Institute and original paintings made by Highland Park art students.
Free Music Download
Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel)
National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine • Theodore Kuchar
Click here to download* the complete symphony in mp3 format (43.1mb).
You can also download sections of the complete piece below:
Promenade
Gnomus
Promenade
Il vecchio castello (The Old Castle)
Promenade
Tuileries
Bydlo
Promenade
Ballet de poussins dans leurs coques (Ballet of the Chickens in their Shells)
Samuel Goldberg und Schmuyle
Limoges, le marche´ (Limoges, the Market)
Catacombs
Cum mortuis in lingua morta (With the dead in the language of the dead)
La cabane sur des pattes de poule (The Hut on Fowl's Legs)
La grande porte de Kiev (The Great Gate of Kiev)
* DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS: For PC- Right-click on download link and select “Save target as...” to download to your hardrive. For Mac- Click on download link while holding down the control key and select "Download Linked File".
Recording courtesy of Naxos of America