Welcome to the Ether Game Weekly Podcast! Halloween is right around the corner. So as you're picking out the perfect costume, why not play along with our spooky podcast all about Halloween-inspired classical music! 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, October 31st at 8:00pm for a chance to win a prize!

Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881): NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN

New York Philharmonic; Giuseppe Sinopoli, conductor. Mussorgsky/Ravel: Pictures At An Exhibition (Deutsche Grammophon)

The "Bald Mountain" referred to in the title of Mussorgsky's tone poem is the location of a legendary assembly of ghouls and witches, who celebrated a dark mass until they were dispelled by the ringing of a Matins bell. As with much of Mussorgsky's music, the history of "Night on Bald Mountain" is complicated by multiple versions. The original title of the work St. John's Eve on Bald Mountain refers to a Russian folk holiday celebrated not on Halloween, but on the Summer Solstice. While the day itself is celebrated with ritual bathing and fire-jumping, in folklore the eve of the holiday often had more sinister associations. Mussorgsky's teacher Mily Balakirev rejected the original version of the tone poem, so the composer worked a new version into one of his comic operas. It survives today mostly because of this version, edited and orchestrated after Mussorgsky's death by his friend Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.