USSR State Symphony Orchestra
The Russian State Symphony Orchestra is one of the primary orchestras of Russia. Regular symphonic activity in Moscow began in 1959, when Nikolas Rubinstein founded a Moscow branch of the Russian Musical Society, and in the next year founded the Moscow Conservatory. The RMS gave concerts in the Assembly of Nobles or the auditorium of the Bol'shoi (Great) Theater, home of the city's opera company. In 1883, the Moscow Philharmonic Society was founded and also gave concerts. In these years, several private orchestras were also founded and existed for short periods.
The 1917 Bolshevik Revolution resulted in the nationalization of the Conservatory on June 12, 1918, and most old musical institutions were replaced with government and party run ones. The Great (Bol'shoi) Hall of the Moscow Conservatory was taken over for public concert use. (Thus, there are two musical spaces in Moscow with the name "Bol'shoi." Even more confusingly, the orchestra giving concerts at the conservatory was the "Corporation of Solo Artists of the Bol'shoi Theater.") The Education Commisariat had a symphony orchestra, called MUZO Narkompros as a shortening of its full bureaucratic name beginning in 1920. The State Philharmonic was established in 1920. The Russian Philharmonic existed from 1925 to 1928, then was replaced by the Soviet Philharmonic (1928-1931) and finally the Moscow Philharmonic (1931 onwards).
Two new orchestras were founded in the 1930s. First (1931) was the Grand (the word Bol'shoi, again) Symphony Orchestra of All-Union Radio, variously called the USSR Radio Symphony or Radio Moscow Symphony.
In 1936 the USSR State Symphony Orchestra (Gosudarstvennii Simfonicheskii Orkestr Soyuza SSR) was founded and intended to be the premier orchestra of the Soviet Union and gave its first concert in October of that year at the Great Hall of the Conservatory. (Despite official intentions, for most of the time the Leningrad-later St. Petersburg-Philharmonic has generally been ranked as the country's greatest orchestra.) True to its founding as a national orchestra, it began its first tour of the vast country in 1937. Its initial conductor was Aleksandr Gauk (1936-1941). Nathan Rakhlin served during the war years (1941-1945) and his successor was Konstantin Ivanov (1946-1965).
Taking the podium in 1965 and presiding over the orchestra for the majority of its existence has been Evgeni Svetlanov, who has maintained the orchestra's high standards during the changing times to follow. Over the years the orchestra has given many important premiere performances and has been conducted by eminent guest artists from Russia and abroad, and has extensively recorded, especially, during the Soviet era, for Melodiya, the State record company, and its predecessors. It also broadcast on radio and television on a regular basis. It did not make its first foreign tour until 1957, and first visited North America in 1960. It has frequently toured abroad since then.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the orchestra was renamed the Russian State Symphony Orchestra (sometimes Russian Federation Symphony Orchestra). It made its first trip outside the country under its new name in 1992, a five-month sojourn taking it to France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, South Korea, and Japan. It continues to appear abroad, appears regularly in both Moscow and St. Petersburg, and often tours other cities in the country. In the 1990s it recorded a massive overview of the entire history of Russian symphonic music on a hundred compact discs.
The new openness following the end of Communist rule has led to an increase the orchestra's playing of music of Western composers, with especially strong interest in works of Mahler and Villa-Lobos.
© TiVo
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Alexander Borodin: The Three Symphonies
Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, The Philharmonia, Paul Kletzki, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov
Symphonies - Released by Praga Digitals on Jan 1, 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Emil Gilels, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Karel Ancerl, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin
Classical - Released by Praga Digitals on Jun 1, 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mstislav Rostropovich: A Romantic Portrait [Dvořak, Schumann, Tchaikovsky]
Mstislav Rostropovich, Sir Adrian Boult, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Concertos - Released by Praga Digitals on Jun 1, 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Khachaturian Conducts Khachaturian, Vol. 1 (Live)
Aram Ilyitch Khatchaturian, USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by JSC Firma Melodiya on Jan 1, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Richter Archives, Vol. 5: Prokofiev (Live)
Sviatoslav Richter, Yevgeny Svetlanov, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Unknown Artist
Classical - Released by DOREMI on Jan 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev & Ravel: Works for Piano
Yakov Zak, Grand Symphony Orchestra of All-Union National Radio Service & Central Television Networks, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Kurt Sanderling, Yevgeny Svetlanov
Classical - Released by Russian Compact Disc on Mar 18, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Orchestral Works (Live)
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Igor Markevitch
Classical - Released by Archipel on Sep 2, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Sadko, Fantasia on Serbian Themes, At the Grave
Heinrich Friedheim, Yevgeny Svetlanov, USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by JSC Firma Melodiya on Jan 1, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Paganini: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 7 (Digitally Remastered)
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Andrei Korsakov
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on Oct 28, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
David Oistrakh - Concertos and Encores
David Oïstrakh, Vladimir Yampolsky, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jan 1, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5, Op. 64 & The Tempest, Op. 18
Yevgeny Svetlanov, USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by CDK Music Classical on Jan 1, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Borodin: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov
Classical - Released by CDK Music Classical on Nov 1, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 27 & The Rock, Op. 7
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov
Classical - Released by CDK Music Classical on Nov 1, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances, 6 Choruses & Excerpts from Aleko
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, USSR TV and Radio Large Choir, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Ludmila Ermakova
Classical - Released by CDK Music Classical on Dec 1, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mravinsky Edition, Vol. 4
Classical - Released by Profil on Jan 11, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36 (Digitally Remastered)
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov
Symphonic Music - Released by EMG Classical on Jul 1, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Suite No. 3 in G major, Op. 55
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Dimitri Swetlano
Classical - Released by Red Note OMP on May 17, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Glinka & Rimsky-Korsakov: Orchestral Works
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Heinrich Friedheim, Yevgeny Svetlanov
Classical - Released by Urania Records on Nov 2, 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Russian Soul
Daniil Shafran, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, Nina Musinyan, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Dmitry Kabalevsky
Classical - Released by Cello Classics on May 8, 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Evgeny Mravinsky, Vol. 3
Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, Boris Trizno, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Veniamin Margolin, Evgueni Mravinski
Classical - Released by Profil on Jun 1, 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Chamber Works, Vol. 6
David Oïstrakh, Sviatoslav Knushevitsky, Vladimir Yampolsky, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Lev Oborin, Kirill Kondrashin
Classical - Released by DOREMI on Jan 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo