The version by Maurice Ravel, produced in 1922 on a commission by Serge Koussevitzky, represents a virtuoso effort by a master colourist. The orchestration has proved the most popular in the concert hall and on record.
Ravel omitted the Promenade between “Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle” and “Limoges” and applied artistic license to some particulars of dynamics and notation. His instrumental colors—a trumpet solo for the opening Promenade, dark woodwind tones for passages suggesting Orthodox chant, the piccolo and high strings for the children’s “chicks in shells”—are widely admired. The influence of Ravel’s version may often be discerned in subsequent versions of the suite.
Koussevitzky’s commission, worked out with the publishers of the piano suite, gave him sole conducting rights for several years. He conducted the first performance in Paris on October 19, 1922.[25] He published Ravel’s score himself and in 1930 made the first recording of it with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The exclusive nature of his commission prompted the release of a number of contemporary versions by other arrangers until Ravel’s became generally available.
The original publisher of Mussorgsky’s piano suite, W. Bessel & Co. rushed to produce an orchestral version of its own after Ravel’s proved popular. T
Povezani članci
