This week Donald Macleod explores the music of Mussorgsky, with a particular focus on his songs. Today, a pair of masterpieces refracted through the eyes of two very different composers: Songs and Dances of Death, as arranged almost 90 years after its composition by Mussorgsky's compatriot Dmitri Shostakovich; and one of the most frequently arranged and orchestrated works in the entire repertoire, Pictures from an Exhibition, in the famous version commissioned by the conductor Serge Koussevitsky from that master of orchestral colour Maurice Ravel.

Songs and Dances of Death (orch. Shostakovich)
Ferruccio Furlanetto, bass
Mariinsky Orchestra
Valery Gergiev, conductor

Pictures from an Exhibition (orch. Ravel)
Berlin Philharmonic
Claudio Abbado, conductor. Show less