Mussorgsky and Ravel, Pictures at an Exhibition, Bolero and others

THE world is hardly littered with Mussorgsky's work.

This composer, one of the ''Mighty Handful'' from the Russian nationalist school, was modest in output but innovative enough to compensate for that.

Indeed, he was so ground-breaking in his compositions that he drew criticism from his peers.

Rimsky-Korsakov said that while Mussorgsky was "talented and original" his manuscripts were "absurd and disconnected".

Well, if Pictures at an Exhibition is disconnected, you can cut me off from reality any time.

Fortunately, the great conductor, Serge Koussevitsky, was an admirer and his love for his countryman's skill and musicality is well to the fore in this 1930 recording of Ravel's orchestration of the work

Mussorgsky originally wrote it as a suite of piano pieces but, although still available, the orchestral version is the most popular for the power and textures that Ravel applied.

Koussevitsky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra present a fine reading of this unusual work.

When Mussorgsky's close friend, artist Victor Hartmann, died in 1873 a memorial exhibition of his work was arranged.

The composer's own tribute came in the piano pieces which depict a selection of the paintings on show, with the main theme Promenade connecting them as a visitor would stroll from one work of art to another.

The pictorial quality of the compositions is breathtaking in its clarity and Koussevitsky brings it into sharp focus.

Also on this well-mastered disc, all featuring the Russian conductor and the Boston players, is Ravel's famous Bolero (recorded in 1947) Rapsodie espagnole (1945) and Ma Mere l'Oye (Mother Goose) recorded in 1947.

The Great Conductors series by Naxos has been of a consistently high quality throughout, and this offering is a must for those who like their classical music to have fire and feeling.

Naxos, 8.110154