Pictures at an Exhibition

The well known title composition for our May concert comes from a Russian composer who was unknown during his lifetime, worked only part time as a musician and a composer, in between his day job as a civil servant. He died in poverty. Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” was inspired by an 1874 exhibit of watercolors and drawings by the composer’s dear friend, Victor Hartmann, who had died suddenly the previous year at the age of 39. Mussorgsky’s reverent homage to his friend, is a series of musical depictions of ten of the artist’s canvasses, and Mussorgsky’s experience viewing them as he walked through the gallery overwhelmed with emotion.

In 1922 Maurice Ravel made an orchestral transcription of Mussorgsky's original piano arrangement, which will be performed by the OSO.

Opening our concert, is the Lark Ascending, by Ralph Vaughn Williams, the evocative title speaks for itself, and this work will feature our own concertmaster, and Ottawa violinist Erica Miller.