Monday, October 20, 2008

Music Monday - Halloween Music No. 3

Modest Mussorgsky was a 19th-century Russian composer, and he wrote some incredibly dramatic music for orchestra and for piano. For this week's Halloween music entry, here is a free download of Night on Bald Mountain from iTunes, courtesy of Paavo Jarvi and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and their CD label, Telarc.

As a bonus, here is a video clip of parts of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition along with an old Russian cartoon. Be sure to watch the chicks' ballet at the end!



Classics for Kids is featuring Mussorgsky's music this week. Check it out! There's even a pdf to download with information and activities in it.

2 comments:

Lynne said...

Thanks for the link to the free download! Stephen will be so happy to be able to listen to some good scary music while stuck in the house giving out candy. Ghostbusters and the Monster Mash were getting a little old after 15 years!

majesticmoose said...

What a fantastic cartoon, I love it. Mussorgsky's PaaE was my favourite piece from age 17 (pushing Schubert's 8th to second place) to 27 (when Daphne and Chloe took over). I boldly admit though, that I prefer the orchestral score (by Ravel). I even had a version from the UK that was purely brass, very interesting. My best listening was via walkman while riding on the back of a boyfriend's motorcycle through the night landscape of mountains in Franconia.