Mussorgsky: A Night on the Bare Mountain (Walpurgisnacht, Walpurgis Night, Night on the Bare Mountain, St. John's Night)

On the 4th of June 2009 the Wiener Philharmoniker treat the Viennese public with a free open-air concert on the grounds of Schönbrunn Palace

The impressive historical setting of Schönbrunn Palace and its beautiful baroque gardens, a UNESCO world cultural heritage site, form a unique backdrop for this Summer Night concert

150,000 visitors were present in the audience, and the concert was broadcast world-wide in more than 50 countries.

These well known pieces are presented in superb SACD sound. Carlo Ponti Jr. is the son of Carlo Ponti Sr. and Sophia Loren and is a regular conductor of the Russian National Orchestra.

Paavo Järvi continues his series of Russian recordings with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra with a disc entirely devoted to works by Mussorgsky.

Pictures at an Exhibition, originally composed for piano, is heard here in the orchestration by Ravel. Mussorgsy wrote pictures as a tribute to his friend, artist and architect Viktor Hartmann. The familiar Promenade theme links Mussorgsky’s imaginary tour of Hartmann’s exhibition.

Rimsky-Korsakov, who felt that Night on Bald Mountain had many marvellous effects, tried to resurrect it after his friend died. He smoothed out many of the irregularities and improved the orchestration, most likely working from the final version of the piece.

The Prelude to Mussorgsky’s ill-fated opera Khovanschchina is titled Dawn on the Moskva River. Mussorgsky composed much of the music for the first four acts, but orchestrated only a small amount of it. The task of orchestrating and completing the opera fell to his friend Rimsky-Korsakov. The Prelude sets the scene for Act I in the Red Square in Moscow, and uses a theme of distinctly Russian folk character, which undergoes a series of melodic variations.