In all the hours I’ve spent listening to and reading you, nothing I have experienced popping out of your brain has been as cogently descriptive, utterly inventive, or as perfectly comprehensible as your comment about Puritans and pornography. I am so envious of your ability to both help me understand and make me laugh in the space of one toss-off phrase. Bravo to your critic’s soul.

I just listened to the Ormandy, and it's still a breathtaking recording after all these years.

Hard to believe that Pictures with Lorin Maazel conducting the magnificent Cleveland Orchestra has been one of my favorite recordings for 40 years! Such an amazing confluence of great director, musicians, and recording engineers! Don't laugh, but I came to Pictures at an Exhibition first as a teenager by way of Emerson, Lake and Palmer. It remains astonishing that a rock band would take on such a project. While it may not please the purists out there, I have great appreciation for the late, great Keith Emerson and his appreciation for not only Moussorgsky but other classical composers such as Aaron Copeland.

David! Wonderful post! I agree about the Toscanini. I recall the very first time I ever heard this recording was on a Saturday afternoon way back on WQXR-FM in New York. The piece had started already but because I love “Pictures…”, I stopped and just sat down to listen. By the end, I was literally moved to tears by what I had heard. Wow! And then the DJ ( I recall it was Clayelle Dalferes who did weekends and overnights) remark we had heard Toscanini and The NBC! Even she was moved and marveled at the performance. What music! What music making! Ordered that recording immediately the next day.

Yay! That Ormandy recording was the first classical LP I ever bought, almost 50 years ago. I still have that copy.

Solti's Chicago version is marvelous. Dynamic. The gate of Kiev, the millisecond death silence pulse before full blown tutti of each blow really make my spine shiver. I could visual the greatness of heaven and sky falling. The reciting of the opening walking theme means the view has merged himself into the pictures. He has met his friend in heaven.

The Ancerl recording is a real sleeper.

My first exposure to Pictures was via that Ansermet recording with the Swiss Romande. With every recorded performance I heard subsequently, I listened in vain for that magnificent deep bass organ pedal at the end. Now after 50+ years, courtesy of this video, I learn that no other recording has it because Ravel never wrote it… It was a “touchup“ by Ansermet! Ah, the delights and dangers of imprinting!

I recently discovered Ozawa/Chicago: what a stunner! Analytical with amazingly evocative colors and dynamism where needed. Calm tempos, but no boredom at all. And, as is often with me, I kinda love Sinopoli/NY, interesting and debatable as usual. David's top choices I totally second, by the way.

Enjoyed this review very much , and I agree with your recommendations. The Ormandy on Sony is a particular favorite, as it served as my introduction to this score back in the 1960"s. I have three additional favorites : Sinopoli/NYPO on DG, Giulini/CSO on DG, and Kaspszyk/LSO on Collins Classics (remember them ?). All three are excellent, very well played and recorded. The Kaspszyk is very difficult to find now. Reiner continues to blow me away with the CSO's imposing virtuosity on full display, and I have been a huge fan of Bud Herseth for many years. Yoel Levi's recording on Telarc is one of the best things he did in Atlanta, but it tends to be overshadowed by other recordings, including Maazel for the same label.

Without an intention of compare one another version, I love a lot Leonard Slatkin's performance. I don't get tired of listening it.

Thank you for this thorough and inspiring review. Like the version of Isao Tomita too, not agreeing to all of ELP, I got to listen to at school.

Agreed that Ravel's version is the best one. I do enjoy listening to Ashkenazy's, but it is way to literal to the piano version. Like at the very end of Kiev, with the tied over grace notes in the bass octaves. Mussorgsky only did that because people only have two hands, not three. But Ashkenazy can't think beyond that limitation. Although Ravel omitted and recomposed some little things here and there in his version, I believe he did it for arranging reasons. They are NOT mistakes. I enjoy your commentaries here, David. This piece, Mahler's hammer, Bruckner's forms, etc, have always been on my mind. It's great to see this on a more public forum like KZfaq. Keep it up!

I first heard Pictures as a young person by Emerson Lake and Palmer! Rock version my favorite for years! Then I discovered that it was a classical piece. Of course I enjoy the classical, but ELP really rocked it!

Probably, the Pictures at an exhibition, in their original version for piano, deserve a video too. After all, when they appeared in 1874, they didn’t sound like anything heard before. Mussorgsky, even as an amateur pianist, invented a new sonority. And as it happened for other Mussorgsky works, at the beginning his intentions were not understood, and the score was published only in 1886, edited by Rimsky Korsakov, and eventually appeared in the original form only in 1931. More than Balakiriev’s Islamey, composed just few years before, the Pictures can be considered the first great Russian piano masterpiece.

One of my all time favorite concerts was Abbado and the Chicago Symphony doing Pictures. This was either late in 1983 or early 1984. First half of the concert was Rudolph Serkin doing the Beethoven 4th Piano Concerto. WFMT must have a tape of this somewhere in their archives; I would pay dearly for it.

I just happened to discover a recording by Levi and Atlanta... My GOD it is the loudest thing I’ve ever herd and I LOVED it! The brass absolutely blow the walls down and somehow it comes through so well in the recording. It had me laughing out loud it was so entertaining.

Bravo Mr. Hurwitz! Yeah, Ansermet is a great performance! I personally love the Karajan / Berlin Philharmonic on DG (1964); for the historical: Antonio Pedrotti with Czech Philharmonic and Guido Cantelli with the NBC Symphony (Live)...really impressive! Recently I bought a cd with Philippe Jordan and the Paris National Opera Orchestra...their Pictures have a very french smoothness! I like also Alain Lombard and Strasbourg Philharmonic on Erato, as well as Jean Claude Casadesus with the Royal Philharmonic...but in my opinion two of the best ever are the Karajan above mentioned and Bernstein with NYPO...the Pedrotti performance with Czech Philharmonic also is really surprising!

Just listened to the version with Charles Mackeras and Royal Liverpool. Wow! That's a kind of sleeper too.

Oddly enough, as a teenaged classical LP collector, that very Ormandy was my first Pics. I’ve never forgotten it and it’s as good as any….despite the accolades to Reiner….and better than most.

David imagine being a twenty-something and getting to hear Eugene ormandy live in the Academy of Music doing Pictures at an Exhibition, not once but twice ! Got to talk to him about it too especially his beloved Rachmaninoff 2nd Symphony where we chatted specifically about the big tune in the last movement. God bless you

My absolute favorite is Evgeny Svetlanov with the USSR State Symphony Orchestra. It's very slow (a lot like Guilini and Sinopoli), but it made me realize that I like it slow.

Great discussion! Briefly, my nomination for the most bombastic Great Gate Finale would be Yan Pascal Torteiler with the BBC Philharmonic from 1993. Free disc on the Magazine cover.

I recently streamed all of Cluytens' recordings that I could find here on youtube. The ORF recording on Urania is okay, and there's the video of the Paris radio orchestra, but really the Paris Conservatoire is the one of his to hear. On youtube, I could find it only in the looong "remastered complete Cluytens mono recordings" playlist, but the tracks are in order and easy enough to find.

hi I think Ormandy has been undervalued. and in reality it is a great director, at the height of the best!

Herbert von Karajan's 1966 recording with the Berlin Philharmonic is probably my favorite. I paid all of $5 CAN for it on the Eloquence label and I thought I got more than my money's worth.

When the Kubelik/Chicago legacy was re-released on three mono LPs this piece "clicked" for me. The sound is not great, but it was surprisingly good for its day. It is a shame that no one asked him to redo it in stereo.

What do you think about Roth and Les Siecles? Wonderful survey and wonderful idea with this videos !!!

And now in March 2021 we're getting the Abbado LSO box. Rejoice!

It was quite a lucky find for me to get the Ormandy (coupled with the Boris Godunov-Shippers) on Sony Classical Great Performances as a thrift store pickup.

I loved Ormandy when I was in high school. Then in college, I was surrounded by snooty people who put down his work as too schmaltzy and being impressionable, I listened. to them. Two or three years ago (i.e., something like 35 years later), I heard his Mahler 1 and thought it was amongst the best I had ever heard, and so I started listening to his stuff again. It is consistently very, very good, and his best stuff (like this) is among the very best.

Ironic that there was a tug of war between Britain and France over the EMI sound equipment. Here we are 70 years later and they are still arguing this time over fishing rights in the context of a potential Brexit deal. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose!! As for Mussorgsky, I have always enjoyed that Chicago Giulini performance. And for Claudio Abbado, one of his very best records I think was his Boston recording of Ravel Daphnis et Chloe Suite no 2 and Debussy Nocturnes. Fabulous.

I'm so glad you're not a vinyl snob, David.

David, what do you think of the live version conducted by Sergiu Celibidache with the Munich Philharmonic?

On KZfaq, there’s a terrific performance of Pictures conducted by Leonard Slatkin with Detroit. I particularly like Slatkin’s interpretation and of course he is an expert on the piece.

The only major conductor that I can think of who didn't record it who would have been perfect for it was... Jean Martinon! Remember his Ravel?

Can someone point me to where I can find the Ormandy recording?

What do you think of Bernstein’s version? Just wondering

I'm way behind here, obviously, but I've owned the alternatives listed and still think Karajan's 60s recording is the best played and best sounding. Help! And of the suggested good ones, the Abbado, though beautifully played and recorded allows the tension to drop at several key points. Reiner is OK. Ormandy sounds very 'glassy' to my ears - and what's happening to the tempo in Bydlo?! Szell's sounds great. I'm a fan of Szell anyway. His sounds more like a 'chamber' version to me; the inner detail and playing in the winds and brass is amazing. All it needs is the strings to sound more like Karajan's BPO of 1966 in the dramatic passages. Anybody else notice how Szell's and Karajan's tempo choices are almost identical?

Help me out here please. Ormandy recorded this in mono, it's in the big box and I like it. But this is not in the new big Sony box just released (Nov 2023). Is it only available as a singleton?

What is with the bass drum on some recordings of the Great Gate of Kiev?

This is going to seem from way out in left field to likely many people, but I have a warm spot in my heart for the Sinopoli/NYPO. He’s actually on very good behavior for this performance. But the real star is the New York Philharmonic, which plays with a stunning virtuosity similar to their Mahler 5th with Zubin Mehta. Ditto for the coupled Ravel Valses nobles et sentimentales. IGreat sound, too.

I would be curious to know your choices for the original piano version. I like the Horowitz, but I guess that's a controversial choice with many.

You hit my three favorites: Maazel, Ormandy, Reiner. I think it was a shame though, that Ormandy didn't re-record the version done for him by Lucien Cailliet. For my taste, it's superior to Ravel. I hope someone makes a modern recording of it someday.

what did you think of the Pictures at an Exhibition record from Gergiev with the VPO?

personally i think pictures needs superior virtuosity and also a skill to define each picture eloquently but the key is not to overdo it. musically define each picture with taste in regards to interpretation and play with the utmost orchestral skill. reiner, cso gets it and a personal favorite is karajan, bpo, 1966 and a respectful nod to Szell as well

I agree with you regarding the brilliance of the Ormandy recording except for one poit: Bydlo - the Polish oxwagen. Ormandy's tempo here is way too fast- his Bydlo sound more like it is pulled by horsed instead of oxen. For me the most perfect recording of Pictures is Vasiley Petrenko - in my view his recording is equal to Ormandy in terms of orchestral brilliance and virtuosity, and recorded sound as well, BUT Petrenko's Bydlo is instead truly an ox wagon instead of a horse carriage. That for me makes the Petrenko the HOWEVER recording (if I may borrow mr.Hurwitz expression) of the orchestrated version of this Mussorgsky masterpiece.

While I completely agree that the Ravel orchestration is the best, I also like the Gorchakov. I also enjoy Leonard Slatkin's multi-version version.

Despite some rather unkempt orchestral execution at times, the old stereo Ansermet discs are prized by “audiophools “. Combination of an lovely acoustic space which was captured beautifully by the Decca engineers, and Ansermet’s sense of what an orchestra should sound like….crisp attack, minimal string vibrato, and piercing WWs and brass. It does have it’s merits. Ansermet’s style was unsentimental and low on intervention, and that appeals to a lot of listeners. Late in life, I’ve come to appreciate the clear transparency of orchestral texture, even if I have to grit my teeth at the winds and brass at times.

Ernest Ansermet, 1958: An organ in “The Great Gate of Kiev”? …. Hmmm …. Keith Emerson, 1970: “I got this.”

I know that you dismissed all other orchestrations in comparison to Ravel’s but I have to say, I just finished listening to the Ormandy/Philadelphia (on a superb, budget 10-CD box on the Documents label) using the Lucien Cailliet orchestration and thoroughly enjoyed it. By the way, the only way to appreciate this work is orchestrally - the piano version leaves me cold...

Watching this has cost me money! Lol I just bought the Maazel/Cleveland recording on Telarc. They really bring our great detail and the sound is awesome. I have noticed that there is some variation on the notes that the trumpet plays in the "Samuel" Goldenberg and "Schmuÿle” section depending on the recording. I guess it goes with what you said about Ravel’s orchestration- conductors feel more free to tinker.

I don't like that Ormandy version for one simple reason: the Bydlo frame carries it too fast, when bydlo are oxen pulling a heavy wheeled cart in the dirt fields. I always choose my versions of Pictures by listening to this theme. If it is slow and heavy, but with the tension it deserves, then the conductor has understood the whole work. For me, the best versions are Reiner/Chicago and Celibidache/Munich for this very reason, as well as being generally terrifically well played and with understood tempos in each picture.

Hearing Levine perform for the first time: wow! It's powerful and the sound quality is exceptional!

Have to disagree with Mr. Hurwitz about the Ravel transcription being the best. For one thing, as Hurwitz himself admitted, Ravel used a corrupted text of the piano original. This is most definitely an issue in "Bydlo"--- the correct piano version starts off ff (fortissimo), which correctly portrays the effect M.M. wanted, namely, the stunning impact of the painting as MM himself wanders through the museum. I would therefore insist that the Ashkenazy is the best--- aside from it being more faithful to the piano original, the playing of it with VA on the podium with the Royal Phil is astounding, and of course Vlad plays the piano original as well.

As far as I'm concerned, if you don't have Bud Herseth on principal trumpet for "Pictures" you're already at a disadvantage.

I most definitely prefer Stokowski's arrangement best. The Great Gate of Kiev has much more bells, woodwinds, and strings, which I prefer to the somewhat anemic sounding orchestration Ravel did. Sure, Stoki borrows a bit, but he made it better. More instruments just add more color for me. Listening to Ravel's version sounds to bland to me now. That's just me.

Nothing makes me feel quite as curmudgeonly as thinking about the Ravel orchestration. For me, all the genius is in Mussorgsky's original piano version, and Ravel's dazzling offering is like Citizen Kane or Casablanca in color. Unnecessary and loses and raw vitality of the music. Get off my lawn!