Isao Tomita
has a real talent for transcribing
classical
music on the synthesizer. He adds much of his own personality to the new arrangements so they are not straight technical knockoffs.
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
takes on new meanings under
Tomita
's sensitive and sensible rendering. He is not re-inventing the wheel so all of the original drama and humor is there but the new hooks and riffs have moxy and their own senses of drama and humor. The
ambient
atmospheres and sci-fi textures give this version an outer space persona. It has become a stroll through an art gallery deep in the Milky Way. This is not quite
's best work but it is close. ~ Jim Brenholts