The Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky wrote this elaborate piano suite after visiting an exhibition of several hundred works by his friend and compatriot Viktor Hartmann in the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts. The exhibition was organized in 1874, to commemorate the untimely passing of this painter and architect. Originally written for piano a considerable number of arrangements have been made of it for a variety of ensembles. TOEAC made their own arrangement for two bayans (concert accordions), drawing on both the piano version and Ravel’s orchestration: “We used the score of the former, and were inspired by the colouring and the phrasing from the orchestral version. Playing it on two accordions we can capture the intimacy and detail of subtle portraits and approach the massive sound of an orchestra where needed.”