Pictures Exhibited by Mussorgsky through Ravel, Solti and Chicago

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky wrote this suite for pianoforte in 1874, painting a musical picture from a recollection of a series of paintings done by his friend, Viktor Hartmann. The paintings or the selected movements by Mussorgsky are bound together by a `Promenade' motif. This was a master work for the piano itself until Maurice Ravel came along forty eight years later and made it immortal by orchestrating it with such dazzling finesse that it is considered as one of the brilliant showpieces that an orchestra can showcase to display its talents. Along with this version by Georg Solti and the Chicago, two other versions stand out. They are Zubin Mehta with Los Angeles Philharmonic and Eugene Ormandy with the Philadelphians. http://youtu.be/EirO7sKFeP0