The two new recordings of Ravel's brilliant orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition are both enjoyable, but in the last resort, neither is really distinctive. The Chandos engineers must have experienced a fascinating sense of deja vu, recording in Chicago's Orchestral Hall, where the famous RCA Reiner record was made so many years ago. They certainly achieve fine results there, and I wish I could report that Jarvi's version was as memorable as his. The crisply accentuated Chicago brass certainly provide a characterful opening, with a firm, rich-timbred answer from the lower strings, which are later to produce an even more sumptuous body of tone in the dialogue of the two Polish jews (although here the trumpet solo is much less interesting than the contribution from the LPO soloist on the alternative Philips disc). Jarvi's pictorialization is vividly straightforward, though like Mata (on his fine Dallas RCA version) he indulges himself in a little gentle rubato in the ''Tuileries''. The orchestral playing is always responsive, but the most impressive characterization comes in ''The Hut on Fowls Legs'' (appropriately illustrated on the front cover) which has a dramatically forceful opening, contrasting with a highly atmospheric misterioso treatment of the central section. Jarvi then makes a very definite pause before the vehement main theme returns. He is volatile in the work's grandiloquent closing ''Great Gate of Kiev'', with a quickening, immediately followed by a powerful broadening for the final spacious peroration. The Chicago brass are superbly sonorous here, and the tam tam splashes the texture exuberantly, though the thumps on the brass drum are curiously unexpansive. But it is, none the less, a magnificent close.
The LPO trumpets are altogether smoother and more sonorous at the opening of Gergiev's account and the answering lower strings lighter in texture. But the earlier pictures are full of picaresque detail, with a malignant ''Gnomus'' bringing some superb rasping brass sounds, and ''The Old Castle'' given a highly evocative gentle melancholy. ''Tuileries'' features delightfully deft woodwind playing and the ''Limoges market place'' is full of bustle—a real sense here of an orchestral scherzo. In the Jewish dialogue the bleating trumpet at first whines very gently, then his protests become more strident; a most imaginative portrayal, but Gergiev's ''Hut on Fowls Legs'', although rhythmically strong and exciting, is less subtle than Jarvi's, though does lead the ear on naturally to the boldly articulated and certainly spectacular finale, where the sound expands resplendently.
Gergiev's disc begins with a hysterically high powered account of Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini. After the doom-laden opening chords, Gergiev hardly pauses for breath, and sets off at a furious pace, driving the music on to the point of frenzy. Then in the central Andante cantabile section his pacing is very slow indeed, and he lingers affectionately over Tchaikovsky's lovely woodwind colours. The LPO playing is very seductive, but the music really needs to move on a bit more than this. It certainly does in the closing section, where the orchestra is driven to a performance of great virtuosity, racing towards the finishing post, as if pursued by a horde of demons, and then exploding into the shattering discords of the coda. As an alternative, Jarvi offers a voluptuous kaleidoscope of primary colours in Scriabin's Poeme de l'extase. He never shirks the excesses of the scoring, especially the vibrant trumpet solo, which penetrates through the opulent texture like an ecstatic sexual symbol. It is a powerful reading of a piece that skirts the very edge of vulgarity.
However, among recent versions of Mussorgsky's picture gallery I would recommend Kaspszyk's Collins CD, although if you want a bargain you could chose Mata on RCA who has an equally splendid digital recording.'