Don Satz:

>As most you know, the famous orchestral Pictures at an Exhibition was
>written by Mussorgsky for piano. I was thinking of doing a review project
>of the various piano versions and went to one of my favorite websites(H&B
>Recordings)to take a look at the available recordings.
>
>I was taken aback by all the versions on record - almost forty of them.
>Of course, the Richter/Philips from Sofia is considered the best of the
>bunch.  What other performances do you find highly rewarding? I have a few
>other recordings, and I'm not sure that I want to invest in
>dozens of them.

Whatever you do, please note the edition the performers use.  Horowitz, for
example, used his own, and unfortunately it has only a little to do with
Mussorgsky.  In essence, it's an "orchestration" *for* piano.  I don't know
whether anyone has indeed recorded the Mussorgsky original.  I have a bunch
of recordings, including the Richter/Sofia, but I don't know if *that's*
original either.

Steve Schwartz