Mussorgsky's piano suite 'Pictures at an Exhibition' cried out to be orchestrated right from the start and indeed, Rimsky-Korsakov's pupil Mikhail Tushmalov made the first partial arrangement in 1886. Many others followed suit but it is Ravel's 1922 version which has established itself as the most popular arrangement on offer.

However, Leopold Stokowski, an inveterate transcriber of many keyboard works, felt that Ravel's orchestration was too "Gallic" and in 1939 he produced one which aimed to be more "Slavic." He even dropped the two "French" pictures in order to emphasize the work's Russian character. Nevertheless, his arrangement is the chief 'runner-up' to Ravel's and has been taken up on disc and in the concert-hall by a number of other conductors.

In 2001, the BBC Symphony Orchestra was marking the 50th Anniversary of the Royal Festival Hall. Stokowski was the first great international maestro to conduct them in the newly-opened hall in 1951, so a 'Tribute to Stokowski' programme was played there on 12 May 2001. In fact, the BBC Symphony had given the UK Premiere of Stokowski's 'Pictures at an Exhibition' transcription in his Proms debut concert in 1963, so its inclusion in the 'Tribute' concert was highly appropriate.

As will be heard, Sir Andrew Davis gave a brilliant performance, helped by the inclusion of the 'ad lib' organ at the very end of the work. As the announcer Paul Guinery says at the start, Stokowski was indeed a "Wizard of the Orchestra"!

Note that this 'digital radio' broadcast has a very wide dynamic range!

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