Customer Reviews

Mussorgsky-Stokowski: Pictures at an Exhibiton [Hybrid SACD]

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Jose Serebrier assisted Stokowski in their days with the American Symphony Orchestra, the memory and motivation for the coductor to record his mentor's version of "Pictures At An Exhibition" in up to date 21st century sound, coupled with a number of other Stoki specialties.

Aside from the more Russian sounding "Pictures", what I enjoyed most here were "Night on Bald Mountain", the "Khovanshchina" conglomeration and the symphonic synthesis on "Boris Godunov". This adds up to about 40 minutes of exciting Russian music delivered with gusto in great sound.

The Bournemouth Symphony hardly play like understated Englishmen in this recording, which will tear a hole in your speaker or knock some dishes off the shelves if you aren't careful with your volume or subwoofer controls when you first play this thing.

This 5.0 SACD is the real thing right from the first few notes of "Night On Bald Mountain" that begin the program. On my 5.1 surround sound system it about knocked down the walls of my house. It brings new definition to the term "demonstration recording"!

Not long ago I wrote a review of Stoki's last remaining CD of his version of "Pictures At An Exhibition" in his own orchestration and scoring. Stoki dropped two of the French paintings and made everything else sound Russian by emphasizing low strings and deemphasizing brilliant brass. Serebrier carried the memory of his mentor's work forward in this recroding, which is destined to wind up on some "best sounding CD of the year" lists.

This recording of "Pictures at an Exhibition" came on the radio today as I was waking up. I had not heard the Stokowski orchestration before (is it true that the principal clarinet of the Philadelphia Orchestra was his ghost orchestrator?) and it was a revelation. The tried-and-true Ravel instrumentation will never be replaced, but this is a "Pictures" from a distinctly different corner of the hall, and a welcome departure. Serebrier and Bournemouth perform with exemplary precision and freshness, digging in where Stokowski's excesses can withstand some enthusiastic wrangling. If you love this Mussorgsky and want to hear it with new ears, here's your chance.