This informative and wide-ranging guide places the original piano work
in the context of Russian cultural life, considering in particular the
work of the artist Victor Hartman, creator of the pictures that inspired
Musorgsky's composition. A detailed synopsis takes the reader through
each piece in turn, and subsequent chapters consider the musical
language and structure. Michael Russ also describes the fate of the work
in the hands of editors and performers and closes by surveying the best
of the orchestrations, particularly Ravel's.