![]() Greg Maltz (Blu-ray.There have been other recordings of Leopold Stokowski's transcriptions of music of Mussorgsky, later recordings by Matthias Bamert, and, naturally, many recordings by Stokowski himself. Overall, the audio is in keeping with the very best DTS-HD MA mixes available on Blu-ray. The middle section of the piece is so intense and emotional in its sheer dynamic flow that it has been used to demo countless audio systems in high end stereo shops around the world. It tells an orchestral story of a midsummer night when witches meet on the Sabbath at Bare Mountain near Kiev, according to Russian folklore. The work was intended to be an episode in an opera, Sorochintsy Fair. John's Night on Bare Mountain, as it was originally called, is Mussorgsky's only major orchestral work, although Rimsky-Korsakov fleshed out a more beefy version that included other fragments from the original composer. It captivated other composers who fully orchestrated it, most notably Ravel in 1922. The suite remained unpublished until after Mussorgsky's death. Originally conceived by Mussorgsky as a suite of piano pieces correlating to the artwork on display, the work's stroke of genius is its Promenade, a recurring theme that represents the viewer walking between the pictures. ![]() A mutual friend, Vladimir Stasov, arranged an exhibition of Hartmann's work in St. Mussorgsky's best-known work, Pictures at an Exhibition, was inspired by the death of the composer's close friend, painter and architect Victor Hartmann. Each of these compositions is included on Surround Records' BD, along with the lesser known Morceaux, Solitude and Traditional Slavic Christmas Music. Another historical opera Khovanshchina was never completed. He wrote Night on Bare Mountain in 1867, an operatic adaptation of Pushki's Boris Godunov in 1872 and Pictures at an Exhibition in 1874. Mussorgsky found work with the engineering department of the Ministry of Communications, and later with the forestry department of the Ministry for State Property, composing in his spare time. Born in 1839, his upper-class family lost much of its land-ownership wealth after the emancipation of serfs in 1861. True to the words on the cover, it is an 'acoustic reality experience'To describe Mussorgsky's work in a few words, terms like 'forceful''original' and 'elemental' come to mind, and he was considered a true Russian. As it turns out, while the reading and recording both have their problems, the sound is uniquely engaging. Leopold Stokowski's transcriptions of Mussorgsky's work, in the hands of conductor Jose Serebrier, piqued my interest, as did the multichannel production. So when I encounter a new-ok, this recording is actually a few years old and now produced in 7.1 DTS-HD MA-reading of these legendary pieces, my first reaction is to yawn. I have been exposed to a few legendary and audiophile-caliber recordings, including the Abbado, London Symphony Orchestra recording of Pictures at an Exhibition and Night on the Bare Mountain (separately) on RCA. The frequent readings of Mussorgsky apply to much of his work, but especially Pictures at an Exhibition and the first track. They have been adapted and arranged by many great composers and conductors, including Ravel, Rimsky-Korsakov and, on this multichannel BD, the great conductor Leopold Stokowski. Modest Mussorgsky was arguably the greatest Russian composer, and as such, his compositions are among the most frequently performed and recorded. At approximately five minutes, thirty-five seconds into the first track, Night on Bald Mountain, when an attack on the cymbals nearly convinced me there was a percussionist in my room, I knew I was listening to something special.
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