"Pictures From Exhibition" best recording?

Agree with Seandtaylor99, Penguin Guides are invaluable. Available from Amazon.

In case Marakanetz doesn't want to wait to get a copy, the top-ranked cd version is by Mikhail Peltnev on Virgin/EMI VC7 59611-2. A mono version by Horowitz on RCA is also recommended. Can't lay my hands on the Penguin Guide for LPs at the moment, so can't help you there.

Many people think that Sviatoslav Richter's performance recorded live at a recital in Sofia (1958) is in a class by itself--one of the great piano recordings of all time. The sound isn't great and there's substantial background noise. The disc was once available only in Japan, but Philips has re-issued it.

While I agree with many of the above posts, I have a suggestion which is both an excellent recording and performance, although orchestral not piano - Reference Recording's performance of "Pictures" by Eiji Oue and the Minnesota Symphony.

There is another classic and very good performance on Mercury Living Presence. The CD reissue of Dorati's orchestral version is coupled with a previouly unreleased solo piano version performed by Byron Janis. The transfer to CD was done by Wilma Cozart fine. Well worth getting for either performance, especially since these reissue CD's are priced below $ 13

Alexc's suggestion is a good one, as is the Knight version. My favorite, probably because it was the first piano performance of it I heard, is the Horowitz recording on RCA, which I have somewhere in my records in glorious mono, a marvellous performance. I would love to hear the Richter, as I always have admired his artistry.