Carlo Maria Giulini / Chicago Symphony Orchestra – Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Prokofieff: Symphonie Classique [Stereo] (The Original Source Series Edition)

(AAA) — Lacquers cut from the original analog master tapes by Sidney Meyer at Emil Berliner Studios.

An exhibition in honor of his friend, the painter Victor Hartmann, inspired Mussorgsky's piano cycle in 1874. A kind of „first-person narrator“ wanders through a gallery and looks at ten paintings. Ravel arranged the cycle for orchestra in 1922. The performance of Giulini is widely regarded as a reference recording.

Prokofiev wrote his Symphony No. 1 during the First World War. It is special in sound and form: only fifteen minutes of playing time it is classical in style, brimming with vitality and a charming homage to the music of Viennese Classicism.

The audiophile vinyl series The Original Source presents outstanding recordings from the 1970s in a whole new sound quality. For this purpose, the renowned Emil Berliner Studios have remastered and cut the original four- and eight-track tapes in 100% analog quality (AAA) using technologies developed specifically for the production of the series. The sonic differences from the original releases are considerable: greater clarity, more subtleties and improvements in frequency response, as well as less background noise, distortion and compression, enable an audiophile listening experience like never before.

On 180g vinyl records and in a deluxe gatefold edition with original covers and lyrics, copies of this series will be released limited and numbered, accompanied by additional photos and facsimiles of the recording logs and tape box

Tracklisting:

Side A

Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition

1. Promenade 1
2. I. gnome
3. Promenade 2
4. II. The Old Castle
5. Promenade 3
6. III. Tuileries
7. IV. Bydlo "The Oxcart"
8. Promenade 4
9. V. Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks
10. VI. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmule
11. VII. The Market at Limoges
12. VIIIa. Catacombae "Sepulcrum romanum"
13. VIIIb. Cum mortuis in lingua mortua
14. IX. The Hut on Fowl's Legs "Baba-Yaga"
15. X. The Great Gates of Kyiv

Side B

Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 in D Major, Op. 25 "Classical Symphony"

1. I. Allegro
2. II. Larghetto
3. III. Gavotte. Non-troppo allegro
4. IV. Finale. Molto vivace

(Above description from DeutscheGrammophon.com)