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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Beethoven: Complete Piano Trios
Itzhak Perlman, Lynn Harrell, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Dec 1, 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Piano Trios
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay, Mats Lidström
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2; 3 Etude-Tableaux
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Apr 8, 1964
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Cello Sonata; Romance; Vocalise etc
Lynn Harrell, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jul 1, 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: Das Wohltemperierte Klavier
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Waltzes; 4 Scherzos; 26 Preludes
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Aria variata & Well Tempered Clavier: Bach
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on Dec 1, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Flute Mystery by Fred Jonny Berg (Aka Flint Juventino Beppe)
Philharmonia Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by 2L on May 19, 2009
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos.2 & 4
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Remote Galaxy
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Philharmonia Orchestra
Classical - Released by 2L on Oct 2, 2013
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Piano Concertos Live (Live)
Classical - Released by Urania Records on Mar 3, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: The Piano Concertos, etc.
Vladimir Ashkenazy, London Symphony Orchestra, André Previn
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: 24 Preludes; Piano Sonata No. 2
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ashkenazy 50: Ashkenazy Plays Chopin
Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on Jan 1, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franck: Violin Sonata / Brahms: Horn Trio
Itzhak Perlman, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Barry Tuckwell
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Apr 20, 1969
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 4; Paganini Variations
Vladimir Ashkenazy, London Symphony Orchestra, André Previn
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Aug 25, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos .5 "Spring" & 9 "Kreutzer"
Itzhak Perlman, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition (piano version & orchestration)
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Philharmonia Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Piano Concerto in D Minor, BWV1052 / Chopin: Piano Concerto No.2
Vladimir Ashkenazy, London Symphony Orchestra, David Zinman
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Sep 12, 1965
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Works for Piano
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on Jun 27, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Piano Trios Nos 1 - 3
Itzhak Perlman, Lynn Harrell, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Oct 1, 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo