Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition for double bass quartet (arranged by Simón García)

About the Composition

'Pictures at an Exhibition – A Remembrance of Viktor Hartmann' is a suite of ten pieces, plus a recurring and varied Promenade, composed for the piano by Modest Mussorgsky in 1874. The suite is Mussorgsky's most famous piano composition and has become a showpiece for virtuoso pianists. It has become further known through various orchestrations and arrangements produced by other musicians and composers, with Maurice Ravel's arrangement being by far the most recorded and performed. It was completed in only twenty days, between 2–22 June 1874.

Mussorgsky based his musical material on drawings and watercolours by Hartmann produced mostly during the artist's travels abroad. Locales include Italy, France, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. Today most of the pictures from the Viktor Hartmann (1834-1873) exhibition are lost, making it impossible to be sure in many cases which Hartmann works Mussorgsky had in mind.

About the transcription

Simón García’s masterly transcription arranges a number of pieces for double bass quartet, offering musical and technical challenges for each player. Any number of movements can be performed and this is exciting, powerful, and colourful music to be enjoyed by performers and audiences alike.