Pictures at an Exhibition, Baba-Yaga – Great Gate of Kiev
Modest Mussorgsky / Elgar Haworth
Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition was written for piano in 1874. It's a collection, or 'suite' of ten pieces. Each piece is a musical interpretation of a painting in an exhibition. In this case the paintings were all by the artist, architect, and designer Viktor Hartmann. The music even has a 'link' called "Promenade" which moves the viewer, or listener, from one painting, or piece, to another. Mussorgsky rewrote the suite for orchestra in 1924. In 1977, two movements were arranged for brass ensemble by Elgar Howarth.
The Philip Jones Brass Ensemble was formed in 1951 by...guess who?...Philip Jones. He was a trumpet player at the Royal Opera House and was accustomed to counting rests! To make things more interesting for orchestral brass players he formed the group who played a huge variety of well-known orchestral pieces but instead of using the full orchestra they were intended for, they were performed just on brass instruments. His friend and colleague, Elgar Howarth, "arranged" much of the music and the rest is history. Their influence has been vast among brass players, providing them with a platform that had previously not even existed.
