Pictures at an Exhibition

Ballet of the Chicken in their Shells


  • Recorded: 27th June 1953
  • Record Place: The Dvořák Hall of Rudolfinum, Prague
  • First Release: 1953
  • (P) 1953 SUPRAPHON a.s.
  • Genre: Orchestral

Artists

  • music by: Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky
  • conductor: Antonio Pedrotti
  • musical group: Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

Album

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

Antonio Pedrotti in Prague

Catalogue Number: SU 4199-2
Published: 22nd April 2016
Genre: Orchestral
Format: 3 CD
This album has received following awards:
  • Diapason d´Or, Diapason Magazine (2016)
Ottorino Respighi - The Roman Trilogy (Fountains of Rome, Roman Festivals, Pines of Rome), La Boutique fantasque - concert suite. Maurice Ravel - Mother Goose, Pavane pour une infante défunte, Daphnis and Chloe - Suite No. 2.* Claude Debussy - Afternoon of a Faun*. Manuel de Falla - Nights in the Gardens of Spain. Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition*. Johannes Brahms - Variations to a Theme by Haydn op. 56a. Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy - Symphony No. 4 "Italian" in A major, op. 90*.

Czech Philharmonic, conductor Antonio Pedrotti

Antonio Pedrotti - an Italian with a non-Italian style, a great conductor without baton…

"Regardless of his reputation and engagement elsewhere, the Czech cultural scene definitely has to count Antonio Pedrotti among the international élite of conductors," a music critic wrote with regard to Pedrotti's stirring performance with the Czech Philharmonic orchestra. Indeed, the world wanted Italian conductors willingly showing their southern temperament. There was no place for Pedrotti whose style of work was far from portentous and possessed an almost "non-Italian" carefulness. Yet he became the most beloved foreign conductor with the Czech Philharmonic in the 1950s and 1960s. He was one of the first conductors to visit the orchestra from behind "the iron curtain" after Kubelík's emigration. The musicians still remembered the high professional demands uncompromisingly required by Václav Talich, which was precisely what Pedrotti could follow up successfully. He conducted without score or baton, was consistent and always went straight to the point, yet he had a very humane approach. His collaboration with Supraphon featured mainly Romance repertoire with an emphasis on the work of Respighi with whom he had studied. Some of the recordings appear on a CD for the first time. All recordings have been carefully re-mastered. No doubt they will come as a surprise to many listeners and, who knows, maybe they will even secure Pedrotti a belated entry to the Parnassus of conductors.

CD 1

Ottorino Respighi
Pini di Roma. Symphonic Poem for Orchestra
1. I pini di Villa Borghese 02:39
2. Pini presso una catacomba 07:26
3. I Pini del Gianicolo 07:29
4. I pini della via Appia 05:19
Ottorino Respighi
Fontane di Roma. Symphonic Poem for Orchestra
5. La fontana di Valle Giulia al'alba 04:14
6. La fontana di Tritone al mattino 02:25
7. La fontana di Trevi al meriggio 03:13
8. La fontana di Villa Medici al tramonto 04:55
Ottorino Respighi
Feste Romane. Symphonic Poem for Orchestra
9. Circenses 04:47
10. Il Giubileo 06:49
11. L'Ottobrata 07:47
12. La Befana 05:08
Maurice Ravel
Ma mere l'Oye. Five Children's pieces
13. Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant 01:41
14. Petit Poucet 03:39
15. Laideronnette, Impératrice des Pagodes 03:29
16. Les entretiens de la Belle et de la Bete 04:26
17. Le Jardin féerique 04:26

CD 2

Ottorino Respighi
The Magic Toy Shop. Ballet suite on music by Gioacchino Rossini (La boutique fantasque)
1. Overture. Tempo di Marcia 02:01
2. Tarantella. Allegro con brio 01:36
3. Mazurka. Tempo di Mazurka 02:32
4. Dance Cosaque. Allegretto marcato 02:11
5. Can-can. Allegretto grottesco 01:36
6. Valse lente. Andantino moderato 02:52
7. Allegretto moderato 01:07
8. Nocturne. Andantino 03:54
9. Galop. Vivacissimo 01:56
Manuel de Falla
Noches en los jardines de Espana
10. In the Geralife (En el Generalife) 10:16
11. Distant Dance /att./ (Danza lejana) 05:03
12. In the Gardens of the Sierra de Córdoba (En los jardines de la Sierra de Cordóba) 08:45
Maurice Ravel
13. Pavane for the Late Infanta (Pavane pour une infante Défunte) 07:33
Johannes Brahms
14. Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn, Op. 56a 16:59

CD 3

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky
Pictures at an Exhibition
1. Promenade 01:21
2. Gnomus 02:32
3. Promenade 00:55
4. The Old Castle 03:57
5. Promenade 00:28
6. Tuileries 01:15
7. Bydlo 02:27
8. Promenade 00:41
9. Ballet of the Chicken in their Shells 01:13
10. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle 02:03
11. Market Place at Limoges 01:16
12. Sepulcrum romanum 01:50
13. Con mortuis in lingua mortua 01:56
14. The Hut on Fowls' Legs - Baba Yaga 02:59
15. The Great Gate of Kiev 05:33
Maurice Ravel
Daphnis and Chloe. Fragments symphoniques from the ballet (Daphnis et Chloé)
16. Suite No. 2 - 1. Lever du jour /att./ 05:26
17. Suite No. 2 - 2. Pantomime /att./ 06:31
18. Suite No. 2 - 3. Dance générale 04:39
Claude Debussy
19. Prélude a l'aprés-midi d'un faune. A Symphonic Poem by Stéphane Mallarmé 09:18
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
Symphony No. 4 in A major Italian, Op. 90
20. Allegro vivace 08:19
21. Andante con moto 06:16
22. Con moto moderato 06:07
23. Saltarello (Presto) 05:39