Search - Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Ormandy :: Symphony 6 / Pictures at an Exhibition

Mussorgsky Masterpiece

John L. Kenny | Plymouth Meeting,Pa. | 12/21/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This 1937 recording was the first made by Eugene Ormandy

with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Ormandy's reading of the

Pathetique Symphony is a fine one played with skill,passion

and driving tempos. It doesn't quite have the power of his later

recording with Columbia/Sony . The 1937 version seems to be

played at a brisker pace.

This CD includes Lucien Cailliet's arrangement(not Ravel's)

of Pictures at an Exhibition. Cailliet had a long career with

the Phila. Orchestra's woodwinds section and assisted Stokowski with his famous transcriptions.Cailliet uses woodwinds in the

opening of the first Promenade, in contrast to Ravel's solo

trumpet.I love this recording, despite being recorded in 1937

and when I play "Pictures" in my brain,this is the version

I'm listening to.Passion,rhythm,great solo playing,and

musicality are all there.

"