Did Ravel make Mussorgsky famous?

[Ugh!]

Do you mean of Mussorgsky's two versions or of R-K's?

Is there actually recordings of all 3 M versions? I am only familiar with the choral one, with Abbado AFAIR...

[Drasko]

Mussorgsky's choral version (Abbado/BPO Sony)


Mussorgsky's orchestral version



recordings of Rimsky-Korsakov version are too many to mention

[Ugh!]

Great, thanks!

[ragman1970]

MM was a legend in russia a long time before Ravel has done his job.

[M forever]

AFAIK, the middle of Mussorgsky's three versions has not survived. Wikipedia confirms that (so it must be true!). Of the original version, my favorite is this one:



I also have Abbado's LSO version which I dimly remember as very good, but it has been ages since I last listened to it, so I can't really comment on it. His later one with the BP on DG is also good, but I found it too expansive and lacking in demonic drive, compared with Dohnányi, although there are some wonderful lyrical moments.

For the later choral version, again Abbado and the BP, this time on Sony, is the only recording I know of.

There are indeed countless recordings of the R-K version, but these two I find particularly good:





The NYP/Sinopoli is also one of the best PaaE (Ravel) versions I know. Extremely colorful and highly characterized, and there is some really spectacular playing by the NYP going on there (the word "spectacular" is often used, but here it really applies).


Of some curiosity interest might also be the arrangements of Mussorgsky's music made by Stokowski which are on this very CD:

[Anne]

Thank you for the recommendations.

Thanks to everyone else for their recommendations.

[Ugh!]

Somebody earlier on in this thread commented that Mussorgsky is not famous, which of course is right if you consider him outside the cycle of classical music. Bob Marley, Bruce Lee, George Bush, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sylvester Stallone, Madonna, Maradona, the Pope, now there are some famous people who are known even outside the western hemisphere. For a while I lived with Lacandon indians deep into the jungle of Chiapas, Mexico. Bruce Lee was huge there. Mussorgsky was seldom discussed. 

In as far as he, or rather, his music, is famous, is it fair to say that it is more than anything through Disney's promotion of Night on Bald Mountain rather than Ravel's orchestration of Pictures?

[lukeottevanger]

For a while I lived with Lacandon indians deep into the jungle of Chiapas, Mexico. Bruce Lee was huge there. Mussorgsky was seldom discussed. 

Can I have this as a signature?

[M forever]

In as far as he, or rather, his music, is famous, is it fair to say that it is more than anything through Disney's promotion of Night on Bald Mountain rather than Ravel's orchestration of Pictures?

No, it isn't. It is just nonsensical to say that since there is no way one could "measure" that. How many people have actually seen the Disney stuff which is 70 years or so old? I think most of the posters on this website haven't seen the movie. It doesn't really matter anyway. Most people who listen to "classical" music probably know who Mussorgsky is. Most people who don't listen to classical music probably don't know who he is.

BTW, I was in Chiapas once, in Tuxtla Gutierrez. But only for 2-3 days. The company I worked for had shares in the big Xtreme Cinema complex. I didn't have enough time to take a jungle tour though. Did you see a lot of big hairy spiders?

[Drasko]

For a while I lived with Lacandon indians deep into the jungle of Chiapas, Mexico. Bruce Lee was huge there. Mussorgsky was seldom discussed. 

Huge as this?


Mostar, Bosnia, Balkans

[jochanaan]

Huge as this?


Mostar, Bosnia, Balkans

For a moment I thought that was C3PO!