Leonard Slatkin
The American conductor Leonard Slatkin is a fixture of the U.S. symphonic scene, having conducted various major orchestras over his long career. He is noted for performance of American, Russian, and British music, and has been forthright among American conductors for championing the performance of American music.
Slatkin was born in Los Angeles on September 1, 1944. He came from a Ukrainian Jewish family whose name was Zlotkin; his brother Frederick, a cellist, has used that name professionally. Slatkin's father, Felix, was a film score composer and conductor as well as a founder of the Hollywood String Quartet, and his mother, Eleanor, was the quartet's cellist. Slatkin grew up with an excellent musical education, and, somewhat unusually, was exclusively American trained. He attended Indiana University's music school, Los Angeles City College, and later the Juilliard School in New York, studying with St. Louis Symphony music director Walter Susskind and Jean Morel.
His first conducting post was as assistant conductor of the St. Louis Symphony, and he advanced through several other posts before being named the orchestra's music director in 1979. Slatkin remained there for 17 years, issuing a large catalog of albums on Vox, EMI, and, for many years, the RCA label, including complete cycles of the symphonies of Elgar and Vaughan Williams; these earned numerous Grammy award nominations, and Slatkin has won six. In 1985, Slatkin led the St. Louis Symphony in the first recording of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker issued on compact disc. Beginning in 1992, he also served as director of the Cleveland Orchestra's Blossom Music Festival, and in 1996 he moved from St. Louis to the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington. There, he took steps to restore the orchestra's mission of presenting American music. Slatkin moved to London as conductor of the BBC Philharmonic in 2000 and also served a principal guest conductor of the Royal Philharmonic, but he continued to work in the U.S. during this period in posts at the Hollywood Bowl, the Nashville Symphony, and the Pittsburgh Symphony, where he was principal guest conductor.
The major post of the later part of Slatkin's career has been as music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, where he shepherded the group through labor strife and a municipal bankruptcy. He stepped down as music director in 2018 but has remained active as music director laureate, continuing a series of recordings with the orchestra on the Naxos label. In 2019, he led the orchestra in a Naxos recording of Copland's ballet music that included the rarely heard early work Grohg; this recording was nominated for a Grammy Award. From 2011 to 2017, Slatkin served a music director of the Orchestre National de Lyon in France. He is also a composer and the author of a book, Conducting Business. In 2003, Slatkin received the U.S. National Medal of the Arts.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Rachmaninoff: The Bells, Op. 35 (Sung in English), Spring, Op. 20 & 3 Russian Songs, Op. 41 (Remastered 2023)
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin, St. Louis Symphony Chorus
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by Vox on 1 Jan 1982
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
John Williams: Trumpet Concerto
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Hunter Eberly, Leonard Slatkin
Classical - Released by Naxos Portara on 18 Aug 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Symphonie fantastique
Orchestre National De Lyon, Leonard Slatkin, Unknown Artist
Classical - Released by Naxos on 27 Aug 2012
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Harold en Italie
Lise Berthaud, Giovanni Radivo, Orchestre National De Lyon, Leonard Slatkin
Classical - Released by Naxos on 30 Jun 2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel : Orchestral Works, Vol.3 - Orchestrations
Orchestre National De Lyon, Leonard Slatkin
Classical - Released by Naxos on 1 Apr 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Hanson: Symphony No. 2 - Barber: Violin Concerto
Leonard Slatkin, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Elmar Oliveira
Classical - Released by Angel Records on 13 Dec 1986
Stereophile: Record To Die For16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Williams: Horn Concerto (John Williams)
Classical - Released by Portara on 28 Sep 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Swan: Classic Works for Cello and Orchestra
Han-Na Chang, Leonard Slatkin, Philharmonia Orchestra
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Oct 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition, Night on Bald Mountain & Khovanshchina (Excerpts) - Borodin: In the Steppes of Central Asia
Modeste Moussorgski, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin
Classical - Released by Vox on 1 Jan 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
John Williams: Tuba Concerto
Dennis Nulty, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin
Classical - Released by Portara on 8 Feb 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bizet: Suites from Carmen - Grieg: Suites from Peer Gynt
Leonard Slatkin, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Telarc on 1 Jan 1979
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Williams: Bassoon Concerto "5 Sacred Trees"
Robert Williams, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Yoonshin Song, Patricia Masri-Fletcher, Leonard Slatkin
Classical - Released by Portara on 3 Jul 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Elgar : Symphonies - Enigma Variations - Overtures - Serenade - Violin Concerto - Cello Concerto
Symphonic Music - Released by RCA Red Seal on 30 Apr 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Christmas Celebration (Kathleen Battle Edition, Vol. 12)
Kathleen Battle, Boys Choir Of Harlem, New York Choral Artists, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Leonard Slatkin
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 19 Sep 1986
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Music of Joseph Schwantner
Classical - Released by RCA Red Seal on 15 Jul 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Copland: Dance Symphony & Short Symphony & Organ Symphony
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 27 Apr 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Piano Concert No.2
Classical - Released by Sony Music Entertainment on 3 Oct 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D Major "Titan"
Leonard Slatkin, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Telarc on 1 Jan 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bernstein: Symphony No. 1 "Jeremiah", Symphony No. 2 "The Age of Anxiety" & Divertimento for Orchestra
Leonard Slatkin, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Michelle DeYoung, James Tocco
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on 1 Aug 2001
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Barber: Violin Concerto & Cello Concerto & Piano Concerto
Classical - Released by RCA Red Seal on 1 Feb 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C Major, D. 944 "The Great"
Classical - Released by RCA Red Seal on 1 Dec 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo