Classical

MUSSORGSKY: Pictures At An Exhibition, etc. (Signum SIGCD566) EVERY now and then, British virtuoso pianist Peter Donohoe offers us a CD that’s an absolute humdinger. This one starts off with the original version of Mussorgsky’s saunter around the pictures of his recently deceased friend Viktor Hartmann — better than Ravel’s orchestration. Donohoe plays the opening Promenade rather ‘straight’ but quickly gets in among the paintings and drawings to provide a gallery of character studies and quaint portraits. He then gives one of the best performances I have ever heard of Ravel’s five Miroirs, pieces from 1905 which show some of the influence of Mussorgsky. Finally, a stupendous rendering of Messiaen’s Canteyodjaya, written for the composer’s wife Yvonne Loriod, Donohoe’s teacher. The sound quality is amazing.