Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition, Night on Bald Mountain & Prelude to Khovanshchina

Järvi’s fourteenth Telarc recording features Pictures at an Exhibition, Night on Bald Mountain, and Prelude to Khovanshchina The fourteenth Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Telarc recording with Music Director Paavo Järvi is an all-Mussorgsky disc, to be released September 23, 2008 in CD and SACD formats. The repertoire includes the composer’s colorful Pictures at an Exhibition and the mystical Night on Bald Mountain, and closes with the serene Prelude to Khovanshchina. Modest Mussorgsky is one of the best known and most beloved Russian composers. “There is something about the way the line moves in Mussorgsky’s music that reminds you of Russian character and language,” said CSO Music Director Paavo Järvi. “His music has real depth and color.” The latest Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra release on Telarc features Maurice Ravel’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Mussorgsky originally composed the work for piano following the untimely death of his friend, artist and designer Victor Hartmann. As part of the grieving process, he visited an exhibition of Hartmann’s artwork and each of the piece’s ten movements represents a different painting. Ravel’s celebrated orchestration of the work premiered in October 1922.