Vladimir Ashkenazy
Russian-born Vladimir Ashkenazy has been a towering figure both as a pianist and as a conductor, with interpretations cutting a wide swath across Beethoven, the Romantics, and Russian music. His repertoire extends back to Bach and occasionally forward to contemporary pieces.
Ashkenazy was born July 6, 1937, in Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod) in the Soviet Union. His father was a pianist, but it was his mother who encouraged his pianistic gifts. Ashkenazy made his debut at eight in Moscow and enrolled at the Moscow Conservatory in 1955, becoming a student of Lev Oborin. An early breakthrough was a gold medal at the Brussels Queen Elizabeth International piano competition in 1956. Ashkenazy toured the U.S. in 1958 as the so-called Thaw under Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev opened opportunities in the West. Back in Moscow, Ashkenazy married Icelandic pianist Dody Johannsdottir. The pair defected during a 1963 tour of Britain, and Ashkenazy soon began a recording career with the associated Decca and London labels, on whose roster he would remain for decades. He became an Icelandic citizen in 1972 and has also lived in Switzerland. In the early 1970s he began conducting as well. Ashkenazy became principal conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London from 1987 to 1994, of the Czech Philharmonic from 1998 to 2003, and of the Sydney Symphony in Australia from 2009 to 2013, as well as other groups, and he has been widely visible as a guest conductor, including in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Ashkenazy's piano playing is bright and incisive, with clear articulation and an intellectual depth that does not interfere with the production of warm feeling. He has exceptional control over tone color. His recorded repertory is vast, including complete cycles of the piano concertos of Mozart, Beethoven (three separate times), and Rachmaninov (twice), as well as of the piano sonatas of Beethoven, the piano works of Chopin, and the difficult sonatas of Scriabin. Ashkenazy's productivity has hardly dropped in old age, nor did the technical difficulty of the works he essayed, although he has been less likely to appear in public on the piano. Still recording for Decca, he issued a version of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, Op. 120, in 2007. The year 2011 alone saw no fewer than 19 Ashkenazy releases as pianist or conductor, including those of such taxing works as the Mahler Symphony No. 6. In 2017, Ashkenazy celebrated his 80th birthday with a new recording of Bach's French Suites, and his historical performances were well treated by recording companies. In 2018, new releases of two of Rachmaninov's symphonies, performed live by the Philharmonia Orchestra, appeared on the Signum Classics label. On January 17, 2020, Ashkenazy announced his retirement from public performing.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Borodin: In the Steppes of Central Asia; Symphonies Nos.1 & 2
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Nocturnes; Four Ballades
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: The Symphonies etc.
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sergei Rachmaninoff : Complete Works For Piano
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.1; Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-4
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1972
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius & Glazunov: Violin Concertos
Esther Yoo, Philharmonia Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Universal Music Ltd. on 15 Oct 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Essential Chopin
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1; Piano Concerto No. 2
Cristina Ortiz, Boris Belkin, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Favourite Piano Works
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: The Symphonies / Tone Poems / Violin Concerto
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Philharmonia Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev: Cinderella/Glazunov: The Seasons
The Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Preludes Op.3, Op.23 & Op.32
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1976
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky
Esther Yoo, Philharmonia Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Universal Music Ltd. on 31 Mar 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: The Symphonies
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Études-Tableaux, Op. 33 & Op. 39
Solo Piano - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 Jan 1973
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 (Live)
Philharmonia Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Signum Records on 6 Apr 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: The Six Partitas
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit; Pavane; Valses nobles et sentimentales
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1985
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Piano Sonatas Nos.1-3
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo