Musorgsky's, Gopak of joyful fellows, Organ Transcription

Besides being an outstanding composer, Modest Musorgsky was a great pianist. His first compositions were thus written for piano. The descriptive attitude towards local folklore scenes, which will flourish in the famous “Pictures at an Exhibition”, is always present. The Fair at Sorochintsy (Russian: Сорочинская ярмарка) was meant to be, in the composer’s will, a comedian work and was left undone at his death. The Gopak here transcribed, already arranged by Musorgsky himself for piano solo, was the work’s final chorus. Together with the orchestral introduction, these are the most famous pages of the composition (which is almost unknown in the western countries).