Audio Recordings

Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain

Just in time for Halloween, we offer Mussorgsky’s frantic and fantastical Night on Bald Mountain, which premiered on this day in 1886. Known for its use in movies like Fantasia and The Wizard of Oz, and more recently in Halloween commercials for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, this musical poem represents a witches’ sabbath that boils and bubbles until the morning church bells scare away the spirits of darkness.

TŌN performed this piece in the fall of 2017 at the Fisher Center at Bard under the baton of Leon Botstein. You can read brief program notes, written by former TŌN violist Omar Shelly, by clicking here.