Maazel: Mussorgsky – Pictures at an Exhibition, Night on a Bare Mountain (FLAC)

Composer: Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky
Orchestra: Cleveland Orchestra
Conductor: Lorin Maazel
Audio CD
Number of Discs: 1
Format: FLAC (image+cue)
Label: Telarc
Size: 144 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes

01. Night On Bald Mountain (orch. Rimsky-Korsakov)
02. Pictures At An Exhibition (orch. Ravel)

Impressive Tempos

Ravel’s orchestration gets the most play. This recording can show you why. His abilities as an orchestrator are unparalleled, and equaled perhaps only by Strauss (Richard) and Stravinsky.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s orchestration of “Night on Bald Mountain,” however, is not my favorite. A lot of composers had problems with Mussorgsky’s abilities, apparently, but I would prefer a different version of this piece.

The orchestra plays “Night” and “Pictures” very well, with precision and at lively tempos. It’s really very good, although I would like to hear these pieces with a bit more fire.

Telarc have released many fine recordings and this performance of Pictures coupled with Night …

Telarc have released many fine recordings and this performance of Pictures coupled with Night on Bald Mountain is one of them.