In January of 2003 I heard pianist Piers Lane perform Musorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. We were both guest artists at the Nelson Chamber Music Festival in the South Island of New Zealand. As the pianist was outstanding, but the piano less so, I played a sort of musical mind game of "arranging" the piece for a string ensemble while Pirs1s remarkable performance took place. What I heard in my mind sounded interesting enough to me that upon my return home I put on paper a version for a double bass quintet.

For this arrangement I used solely the original piano score as a source, trying (desperately!) to pretend I had never heard the Ravel contribution, or any other for that matter. The original piano score is much more somber and austere than its orchestra "cousins", and the last thing I wanted was to joke around, or to simply entertain. As a rule, I kept all markings as they exist originally in the score. (Musorgsky uses dynamic markings relatively sparingly). I kept the voice range most of the time. (For that reason, the double bass needs to have an extension in order to execute the low C. On one occasion, With the Dead in a Dead Language, the C has to be further lowered by a half tone).

At the risk of not being modest, and for sure not being Modest, I feel that a string quintet rendition may successfully, yet differently, highlight some of the many facets hidden in this music whose great mystery, enormous potential and many layers have been and will continue to be an invitation for musical explorations.

Click here to see the sample score!

To purchase a copy of "Pictures", contact Atar Arad at aarad@indiana.edu