Pictures at an Exhibition

In Five Steps Ahead, the main character, Robert, with his friend Hal in tow, meets up with his love interest, Carolyn, at a piano recital. Robert and Hal arrive during the intermission and miss the first half of the recital. But they sit down with Carolyn to see the second half, a performance of Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky.

Only the first part of this piece is used in our story to suggest the main characters watching it performed.

Originally, Pictures at an Exhibition was a piano suite with ten movements, but it is often performed by an orchestra. For our story, it is returned to a piano performance accompanied by trumpet. The trumpet makes its performance more dramatic without requiring a full orchestra.

Pictures at an Exhibition is structured around the concept of the composer walking through an art exhibition, looking at paintings. Each movement represents a painting the composer views. Between movements is a "promenade", a musical interlude representing the composer walking to the next painting, and the entire piece opens with this (well-known) promenade.

In our story, the trumpeter opens the promenade and is then joined by the pianist. Later, after the conclusion of the piece, the characters walk out into the foyer of the concert hall.

Further References

• Find more about Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky here on Wikipedia.
• Find more about Pictures at an Exhibition here on Wikipedia.
• For a performance of the Promenade go here on Wikipedia.

Contact Rich at WrittenByRich@sonic.com.
Go to full writer website at WrittenByRich.com