<P> The version by Maurice Ravel, produced in 1922 on a commission by Serge Koussevitzky, represents a virtuoso effort by a master colourist . The orchestration has proved the most popular in the concert hall and on record . Ravel omitted the Promenade between "Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle" and "Limoges" and applied artistic license to some particulars of dynamics and notation . His instrumental colors--a trumpet solo for the opening Promenade, dark woodwind tones for passages suggesting Orthodox chant, the piccolo and high strings for the children's "chicks in shells"--are widely admired . The influence of Ravel's version may often be discerned in subsequent versions of the suite . </P> <P> Koussevitzky's commission, worked out with the publishers of the piano suite, gave him sole conducting rights for several years . He published Ravel's score himself and in 1930 made the first recording of it with the Boston Symphony Orchestra . The exclusive nature of his commission prompted the release of a number of contemporary versions by other arrangers until Ravel's became generally available . </P> <P> The original publisher of Mussorgsky's piano suite, W. Bessel & Co. rushed to produce an orchestral version of its own after Ravel's proved popular . The publisher had passed on the opportunity to publish Ravel's arrangement, seeing no great commercial advantage in printing a score and set of parts for large orchestra; it had granted Koussevitzky permission to commission the setting and publish the score himself on the condition that no one else be allowed to perform it . Bessel turned to a Ravel student, 21 - year - old Russian - born pianist Leonidas Leonardi (1901--1967), a.k.a. Leon Leonardi or Leonid Leonardi, to create an orchestral version that could meet the now burgeoning demand and help the publisher regain some of its lost advantage . Leonardi's orchestration requires even larger forces than the version made by his mentor . The young pianist dedicated his setting of the suite to Igor Stravinsky and conducted the premiere in Paris with the Lamoureux Orchestra on 15 June 1924 . The US premiere took place on 4 December 1924 when the New York Symphony Orchestra performed it under the baton of Walter Damrosch . Regardless, Leonardi's orchestration was soon eclipsed by Ravel's, and today only the third Promenade and "Tuileries" movement of his version may be heard on audio record (Leonard Slatkin / Saint Louis Symphony: The Slatkin Years: 6 CD Set). </P> <P> Another arrangement appeared when Eugene Ormandy took over the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1936 following Leopold Stokowski's decision to resign the conductorship . Ormandy wanted a version of Pictures of his own and commissioned Lucien Cailliet, the Philadelphia Orchestra's' house arranger' and player in the woodwind section, to produce one . This version was premiered and recorded by Ormandy in 1937 . Walter Goehr published a version in 1942 for smaller forces than Ravel but curiously dropped "Gnomus" altogether and made "Limoges" the first piece . </P>

Pictures at an exhibition great gate of kiev