Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition by Fritz Reiner (2025 Remastered, Chicago 1957)

In 1873, Modest Mussorgsky attended the commemorative exhibition of his friend Victor Hartmann, architect and painter. About 400 of Hartmann’s works were displayed in the halls of the St. Petersburg Society of Architects, and Mussorgsky composed a piano suite inspired by ten of the pieces he had seen there. Hardly anyone paid much attention to Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition until 1922, when Ravel orchestrated it at the request of Serge Koussevitzky.

Fritz Reiner was, along with a few others, one of the most extraordinary orchestral technicians of the 20th century. Stravinsky stated in the 1950s that the Chicago Symphony Orchestra had become, thanks to Reiner, the most precise in the world… This recording fully proves him right. Transcendent virtuosity, absolute transparency of the orchestral fabric, velocity of tempos, density of sound, flawless intonation, exceptional quality of tone colors… for all these reasons, this interpretation, with its futuristic rather than romantic overtones, remains an unsurpassed reference. The sound engineering is breathtaking, and the remastering adds that “cherry on the cake” which enhances it and thus creates the definitive edition of this monument of the recording world.

Enjoy your listening