Pictures At An Exhibition: orchestrated by Maurice Ravel Eulenburg Audio+Score

by Modest Mussorgsky (Composer), Arbie Orenstein (Herausgeber)

This study score of Ottorino Respighi's Pini di Roma presents the complete orchestral work for conductors, music students, and classical music lovers who want to follow, analyze, and better understand this landmark orchestral score. It offers a clear full score with all instrumental lines represented, while the included prefatory notes add useful context for closer musical study.

The score brings together woodwinds, brass, percussion, keyboard, harp, and organ in a standard full score layout that supports detailed examination of Respighi's vivid orchestration and atmospheric tone painting. It is especially valuable for score reading, orchestral analysis, classroom discussion, and rehearsal preparation, making it a strong choice for anyone exploring early 20th-century orchestral repertoire.

Respighi's Pini di Roma is celebrated for its cinematic color and evocative depiction of Roman landscapes across time, and this study score allows readers to engage closely with the composer's techniques. Whether examining orchestration choices, exploring thematic development, or simply following along with recordings, this edition supports deeper musical appreciation and informed score study. It is particularly suited to conductors, educators, and serious students who value clarity and reliable musical presentation.

Song List
Pini della Villa Borghese * Pini presso una catacomba * I pini del Gianicolo * I pini della Via Appia

Ideal for study, rehearsal preparation, or as a thoughtful gift for classical music lovers, this score offers lasting value as both a learning tool and a reference edition. It invites closer listening, deeper analysis, and a stronger connection to one of Respighi's most enduring orchestral works.

Genres: Music

164 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1942

About the author

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (Модест Петрович Мусоргский, 21 March [O.S. 9 March] 1839 – 28 March [O.S. 16 March] 1881) was a Russian composer, one of the group known as "The Five". He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period. He strove to achieve a uniquely Russian musical identity, often in deliberate defiance of the established conventions of Western music.

Many of his works were inspired by Russian history, Russian folklore, and other national themes. Such works include the opera Boris Godunov, the orchestral tone poem Night on Bald Mountain and the piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition.

For many years Mussorgsky's works were mainly known in versions revised or completed by other composers. Many of his most important compositions have posthumously come into their own in their original forms, and some of the original scores are now also available.

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The spelling and pronunciation of the composer's name has caused some confusion.

The family name derives from a 15th- or 16th-century ancestor, Roman Vasilyevich Monastyryov, who appears in the Velvet Book, the 17th-century genealogy of Russian boyars. Roman Vasilyevich bore the nickname "Musorga", and was the grandfather of the first Mussorgsky. The composer could trace his lineage to Rurik, the legendary 9th-century founder of the Russian state.

In Mussorgsky family documents the spelling of the name varies: "Musarskiy", "Muserskiy", "Muserskoy", "Musirskoy", "Musorskiy", and "Musurskiy". The baptismal record gives the composer's name as "Muserskiy".

In early (up to 1858) letters to Mily Balakirev, the composer signed his name "Musorskiy" (Мусoрскій).[3] The "g" made its first appearance in a letter to Balakirev in 1863.[4] Mussorgsky used this new spelling (Мусoргскій, Musorgskiy) to the end of his life, but occasionally reverted to the earlier "Musorskiy".[5][6] The addition of the "g" to the name was likely initiated by the composer's elder brother Filaret to obscure the resemblance of the name's root to an unsavory Russian word (мусoр (músor) — n. m. debris, rubbish, refuse)

Mussorgsky apparently did not take the new spelling seriously, and played on the "rubbish" connection in letters to Vladimir Stasov and to Stasov's family, routinely signing his name Musoryanin, roughly "garbage-dweller" (compare dvoryanin: "nobleman").

The first syllable of the name originally received the stress (i.e., MÚS-ər-skiy), and does so to this day in Russia and in the composer's home district. The mutability of the second-syllable vowel in the versions of the name mentioned above gives evidence that this syllable did not receive the stress.

The addition of the "g" and the accompanying shift in stress to the second syllable, sometimes described as a Polish variant, was supported by Filaret Mussorgsky's descendants until his line ended in the 20th century. Their example was followed by many influential Russians, such as Fyodor Shalyapin, Nikolay Golovanov, and Tikhon Khrennikov, who, perhaps dismayed that the great composer's name was "reminiscent of garbage", supported the erroneous second-syllable stress that has also become entrenched in the West.

The Western convention of doubling the first "s", which is not observed in scholarly literature (e.g., The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians), likely arose because in many Western European languages a single intervocalic /s/ often becomes voiced to /z/ (as in "music"), unlike in Slavic languages where it remains unvoiced. Doubling the consonant thus reinforces its voiceless sibilant /s/ sound.

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This books includes a brief introduction to Moussorgsky, Russia at the time, Hartmann's pictures, the music Moussorgsky wrote and how this music was viewed and edited. The introductory materials are followed by the music based on the original autograph with editorial notes on fingering, the use of pedal, notes on changes others made, and editorial comments. I find the introductory materials, though very brief, helpful for placing Moussorgsky in his time and developing a feel for the music conducive to playing the pieces. I find this edition helpful for study as well.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

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