Album Notes

\"Pictures at an Exhibition\" was written in 1874 by Modest Mussorgsky as a commemoration of his friend, the artist and architect Viktor Hartmann.

Mussorgsky\'s music brings the paintings to life:

The main \"Promenade\" theme portraits the composer \"roving through the exhibition, now leisurely, now briskly in order to come close to a picture that had attracted his attention, and at times sadly, thinking of his departed friend.\"

Gnomus - \"A sketch depicting a little gnome, clumsily running with crooked legs.\"

The Old Castle - \"A medieval castle before which a troubador sings a song.\"

Tuileries - \"An avenue in the garden of the Tuileries, with a swarm of children and nurses.\"

Bydlo - \"A Polish cart on enormous wheels, drawn by oxen.\"

Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks - \"Hartmann’s design for the décor of a picturesque scene in the ballet Trilby.\"

Samuel Goldenberg und Schmuyle - \"Two Polish Jews, Rich and Poor\".

The Market at Limoges - \"French women quarreling violently in the market.\"

The Catacombs - \"Hartmann represented himself examining the Paris catacombs by the light of a lantern.\"

With the Dead in a Dead Language - \"The creative spirit of the dead Hartmann leads Mussirgsky towards the skulls. He calls out to them, and the skulls begin to glow softly.\"

The Hut on Chicken\'s Legs (Baba Yaga) - \"Hartmann\'s drawing depicted a clock in the form of Baba-Yaga\'s hut on chicken\'s legs.\" Baba-Yaga is the Russian fairy-tale main witch character.

The Great Gate Of Kiev - \"Hartmann\'s sketch was his design for city gates at Kiev in the ancient Russian massive style with a cupola shaped like a slavonic helmet.\"

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Since the first performance of \"Pictures at an Exhibition\" there were hundreds of arrangements of the suite - both for classical orchestra and for different groups.

Slav de Hren\'s version is a punk-jazz performance of a contemporary perception of Mussorgsky\'s music.


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Slav de Hen was created in 2005 by George Marinov (Guitar) and Svetoslav Bitrakov (Drums) - two well-known musicians from the Bulgarian underground scene. Their first instrumental, electronic, trash-jazz album was recorded in 2006 \"Tavata\".

In 2007 Svilen Ivanov (Bass) and Petya Dankova (Vocal) joined the group and they recorded their second album \"Pictures at an Exhibition\" - a punk-jazz version of Mussorgsky\'s piano suite.