The Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881) was self-educated to a large extent but went on to become one of the ?Mighty Five? which also included Balakirev, Cui, Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov. Today he is considered the innovator of Russian music par excellence. He composed Pictures at an Exhibition in 1874, inspired by ten pictures produced by his then recently deceased friend, the Russian architect and artist Victor Hartmann. The French composer Maurice Ravel made an orchestration of Mussorgsky?s composition in 1922 which is now more well-known and more performed than the original piano suite. For his transcription of Pictures at an Exhibition, Tohru Takahashi made use of the original piano composition by Mussorgsky. The Great Gate of Kiev, issued here separately, is probably the best known melody from this classical masterpiece. 0:05:45
