Paul Mnatsakanov: Pictures at an Exhibition

Royal College of Music pianist Paul Mnatsakanov performs the original piano version of Mussorgsky’s most famous work, Pictures at an Exhibition.

Written in honour of Mussorgsky’s close friend Vladimir Hartmann, a painter who died at the peak of his career, Pictures at an Exhibition is composed of a set of piano pieces capturing Hartmann’s paintings in music. A musical Promenade links the sketches together, in which Mussorgsky depicted himself moving from one picture to the next. Although often heard in an orchestrated form, here Paul performs Mussorgsky’s original version.

Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition
Promenade
i Gnomus
Promenade
ii Il vecchio castello
Promenade
iii Tuileries
iv Bydlo
Promenade
v Ballet des poussins dans leurs coques
vi Samuel Goldenberg und Schmuyle
vii Limoges – le marché
viii Catacombæ
Cum mortuis in lingua mortua
ix La cabane sur des pattes de poule (Baba-Yagá)
x La grande porte de Kiev

Filmed by RCM Studios in Performance Studio, Royal College of Music in February 2024.