Friday, March 18, 2011

Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky

Pictures at an Exhibition is one of the most deservedly staged and re-arranged suites of Mussorgsky. Subheading of this work (A Remembrance of Victor Hartmann) is self-explanatory – it is dedicated to a composer’s close friend, an architect and painter, who died early from an aneurism. Mussorgsky himself outlived Hartmann by three years, dying in the age of 42, but his contribution is huge: Pictures at an Exhibition was re-arranged even for such instruments as glockenspiel, xylophone and marimba. There were so many of those who want to adapt suite for themselves that we can easily find two bands starting from “Tangerine” among them – Tangerine Dream and Tangerine Trees, respectively.

In 1991-1992 Arkadi Troitsky transcripted Mussorgsky's suite for a string orchestra. Troitsky is a composer, arranger, and conductor with a great experience. Download the high quality sheet music here: Pictures at an Exhibition, arranged by Arkadi Troitsky – who knows, maybe it will inspire you to play its parts on sitar or theremin!..

Video of another version of arrangement, by Ravel, is below:

Haydn's Miracle Symphony No.102

They call Joseph Haydn the father in music. He is considered to be, indirectly, the father of both the symphony and the string quartet, hav...