This week on the Ether Game Weekly Music Quiz Podcast, we're looking at works that have been brought up to the symphonic big leagues! It's a show we're calling "Reorchestration." Can you name this re-orchestrated tune? (The answer is below) Remember to keep your ears out for a portion of Tuesday night's Teaser selection. And don't forget to tune into the full show on Tuesday, February 27th at 8:00pm for a chance to win a prize!
Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881)
PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION: Promenade
Wiener Philharmonic; Valery Gergiev, conductor. Moussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition / Night On The Bare Mountain (Philips)
This familiar symphonic work did not begin in the concert hall, but rather at the piano. Pictures at an Exhibition was originally written as a piano work by Modest Mussorgsky, based on artwork by Mussorgsky's late friend Viktor Hartmann. Hartmann had died at an early age of an aneurysm, and shortly after his death, an exhibition of over 400 of his works was organized. It was that exhibition of pictures that inspired this piece-representing not only the various images, but the mood of the composer as he walks from image to image. After Mussorgsky's death, it became clear that this picturesque solo piano work needed more musical color. Several composers made attempts to reorchestrate it, including British conductor Henry Wood. However, Wood withdrew his arrangement after hearing the spectacular orchestral colors of Maurice Ravel's arrangement.
