Andrew Stiller wrote:
... *Pictures at an Exhibition* ... There are, after all, numerous places where Ravel deliberately overrules Mussorgsky, and no one (or no one w. taste) would dream of "restoring" these.
One exception - four bars from the end of "Bydlo" the D# in the left-hand melody, which had to that point always entered on beat two, is here a single note on beat one. In the Ravel version, the bass clarinet note is moved to beat two to match all the other statements of the tune. Years ago, when listening for the first time to the Toscanini / NBC Symphony recording, I remember having the strangest premonition that the bass clar would be on beat one, matching the composer, not the orchestrator, and being correct. I wonder if other conductors have done that (none that I have played it under, though, which is about 6 or 7.) I much prefer the composer's beat one, myself.
One Ravel change I've always liked is the very effective two extra bars (open trumpet echoed by muted trumpet) before the middle section of "La cabane." It seems like there is another place where he adds a couple of bars of scales before the next movement, but now I can't recall just where. When I was in high school I used to check out from the public library constantly the miniature full score with the piano original at the bottom - that is a textbook all on it's own.
Raymond Horton Bass Trombone, Louisville Orchestra _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
