THE SOUND OF TAPE - ALBUM EDITOR REVIEW
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MUSSORGSKY - PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
Ravel Orchestration • Pierre Hétu
Orchestre Mondial des Jeunesses Musicales
2xHD Fusion Master-Quality Reel Tape
Some recordings reproduce an orchestra. Others open the doors of the concert hall.
Modest Mussorgsky composed Pictures at an Exhibition in 1874 as a musical tribute to his friend, architect and artist Viktor Hartmann. Its ten musical “pictures,” connected by the recurring Promenade theme, invite us to follow the composer through a memorial exhibition of Hartmann’s work.
Maurice Ravel’s celebrated 1922 orchestration transformed the original piano suite into one of the most spectacular showcases of orchestral colour ever created. Woodwinds become characters, brass instruments supply weight and ceremony, percussion adds drama, and the strings illuminate the work’s shifting emotional landscape.
This remarkable performance was recorded in Canada during the summer of 1976, when the Orchestre Mondial des Jeunesses Musicales participated in events surrounding the Montreal Olympic Games. The orchestra - approximately one hundred exceptionally talented young musicians selected internationally - was conducted by the distinguished Canadian conductor Pierre Hétu.
THE MUSICAL JOURNEY
The recurring Promenade introduces the listener as a visitor walking between pictures. “Gnomus” is angular, grotesque and unsettling, while “The Old Castle” opens a distant medieval landscape with one of Ravel’s most atmospheric instrumental combinations.
“Tuileries” captures children playing and arguing in a Parisian garden. “Bydło” advances with the immense weight of an ox cart, driven by powerful low brass. The “Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks” is delicate and brilliantly animated before “Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle” contrasts two dramatically different personalities.
“Limoges” explodes into the commotion of a crowded marketplace. “Catacombs” descends into darkness, followed by the ghostly transformation of the Promenade in “Cum mortuis in lingua mortua.”
The furious “Hut on Hen’s Legs”—Mussorgsky’s vision of Baba Yaga—propels the performance toward “The Great Gate of Kyiv.” Here Ravel unleashes the orchestra’s full ceremonial power: blazing brass, ringing percussion and massive harmonic architecture bring the exhibition to a majestic conclusion.
The programme is generously completed by Richard Strauss’s witty and highly theatrical Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks and Antonín Dvořák’s rhythmically exhilarating Slavonic Dance No. 8.
TRACKLIST
1. Promenade I — 1:47
2. Gnomus — 2:22
3. Promenade II: Moderato commodo assai e con delicatezza — 0:56
4. Il vecchio castello — 4:23
5. Promenade III: Moderato non tanto, pesante — 0:33
6. Tuileries — 1:03
7. Bydło — 2:54
8. Promenade IV: Tranquillo — 0:46
9. Ballet des poussins dans leurs coques — 1:17
10. Samuel Goldenberg und Schmuÿle — 2:24
11. Limoges, le marché — 1:27
12. Catacombae: Sepulcrum romanum — 1:57
13. Cum mortuis in lingua mortua — 1:54
14. La cabane sur des pattes de poule — 3:26
15. La grande porte de Kiev — 5:30
16. Richard Strauss: Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28 — 14:38
17. Antonín Dvořák: Slavonic Dance No. 8 in G minor — 4:51
PERFORMERS AND PRODUCTION
• Orchestre Mondial des Jeunesses Musicales
• Pierre Hétu — conductor
• Modest Mussorgsky — composer
• Maurice Ravel — orchestration
• André Clerk and Jean de La Durantaye — producers
• Jean de La Durantaye — recording engineer
• René Laflamme — 2xHD mastering
THE ANALOGUE RECORDING
The original performance was captured with only two omnidirectional microphones on ¼-inch analogue tape running at 15 IPS.
This minimalist microphone arrangement is particularly significant. Instead of assembling the orchestra through numerous close microphones, the recording preserves the relationship between the musicians, the conductor and the surrounding acoustic space. It allows the soundstage to develop as a coherent whole—with natural depth, instrumental placement and orchestral timbre.
For a high-quality reel-to-reel system, Pictures at an Exhibition offers a formidable demonstration:
• The weight and extension of the low brass in “Bydło”
• The delicacy and speed of the woodwinds
• The atmosphere and decay surrounding “The Old Castle”
• The violent dynamic contrasts of “Baba Yaga”
• The enormous scale, brass brilliance and percussion of “The Great Gate of Kyiv”
REEL-TAPE EDITION
• Catalogue: 2XHDJD-T1035
• Master-quality reel-to-reel tape
• One 10.5-inch metal reel
• ¼-inch, two-track stereo
• 15 IPS / 38 cm/s
• IEC/CCIR equalisation
• Limited edition
• Sourced from the original analogue master
• Made in Canada
• Released by 2xHD Fusion
EDITORIAL VERDICT
This is more than a famous orchestral showpiece. It is music about memory, friendship, imagination and the transformation of visual art into sound.
Pierre Hétu and the young international orchestra bring urgency, colour and youthful energy to the score. The minimalist two-microphone recording approach makes this edition especially attractive to analogue enthusiasts who value coherent imaging, natural hall perspective and authentic orchestral scale.
Published feedback specifically addressing the 15 IPS edition remains limited. At the time of research, The Sound of Tape carried no written customer reviews, while OpenReelToReel Hub showed a perfect rating based on only two votes - encouraging, but too small a sample to constitute a broad consensus. The recording’s provenance, programme and purist two-microphone engineering therefore provide the strongest reasons for serious consideration.
For admirers of classical music, historic analogue recordings and reference-quality reel-to-reel reproduction, this is a compelling collector’s edition - and an exceptional way to experience Ravel’s magnificent orchestral palette.
⭐ EDITOR’S RATING: 9.5/10
🎼 Performance: 9/10
🎙️ Recording approach: 10/10
💿 Programme: 10/10
🏆 Audiophile and collector appeal: Exceptional
Would “The Great Gate of Kyiv” be the first movement you played to demonstrate your reel-to-reel system?
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MUSSORGSKY - PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
