Steve Schwartz:

>I would also make the point that the Ravel orchestration of Pictures isn't
>necessarily inferior to Mussorgsky's piano suite

Most listeners would find this a real understatement, but I once heard--on
the radio--a brilliant piano performance, following which the announcer
remarked, "With playing like that, who needs an orchestra?" I had already
decided those were my sentiments exactly but unfortunately I didn't
remember the name of the (Russian) pianist, whose name was not familiar
to me.  (Not Richter.) Any suggestions?

Jim Tobin
(reading some of this thread in spite of himself)