The death in 1873 of Mussorgsky's friend Victor Hartmann was the stimulus for the initial creation of what was to become one of the most vividly colourful works in the orchestral repertoire. However, Mussorgsky's original pianoversion of Pictures At An Exhibition was not even published until 5 years after his death, and remained almost unknown until Ravel's masterful orchestration of it in 1922.

From then on it has become favourite in the orchestral repertoire. This is the piano versi...