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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Ravel: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1
Orchestre National De Lyon, Jennifer Gilbert, Leonard Slatkin
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 6 nov. 2012
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Complete Symphonies
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 10 mrt. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Saint-Saëns : Works for organ & orchestra
Vincent Warnier, Orchestre National De Lyon, Leonard Slatkin
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 5 jan. 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: The Six Symphonies (Live)
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin
Symfonische muziek - Released by Live from Orchestra Hall on 28 aug. 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: Orchestral Works, Vol. 2
Orchestre National De Lyon, Leonard Slatkin
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 5 nov. 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Copland: Appalachian Spring & Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 9 sep. 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 4 & Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 (Remastered 2023)
Abbey Simon, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin
Concertmuziek - Released by Vox on 1 jan. 1978
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 27 & Vocalise, Op. 34 No. 14 (Remastered 2023)
Leonard Slatkin, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Vox on 10 feb. 2023
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Copland: Grohg & Billy the Kid
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 8 mrt. 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 & Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 (2023 Remastered Version)
Abbey Simon, Leonard Slatkin, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Vox on 24 mrt. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: The Conductors' Transcriptions
Leonard Slatkin, BBC Symphony Orchestra
Symfonieën - Released by Chandos on 1 jun. 2004
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov : Symphony No. 3 - Symphonic Dances
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin
Symfonische muziek - Released by Naxos on 1 apr. 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky, Op 78 & Lieutenant Kijé Suite, Op. 60 (Version for Voice & Orchestra) (Remastered 2024)
Claudine Carlson, Arnold Voketaitis, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin
Klassiek - Released by Vox on 22 nov. 2005
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Copland: Rodeo, Dance Panels, El Salón México & Danzón Cubano
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 3 jun. 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Transcriptions for Orchestra
Leonard Slatkin, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Symfonieën - Released by Chandos on 1 jun. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis - Barber: Adagio for Strings - Grainger: Irish Tune from County Derry - Satie: Gymnopédies Nos. 1 & 3 - Fauré: Pavane
Leonard Slatkin, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Telarc on 1 jan. 1981
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Copland: Symphony No. 3 & 3 Latin American Sketches
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 9 jun. 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé, M. 57
Spirito, Orchestre National De Lyon, Leonard Slatkin
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 21 okt. 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C Minor "Resurrection"
Leonard Slatkin, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Chorus, Kathleen Battle, Maureen Forrester
Klassiek - Released by Telarc on 1 jan. 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel : Orchestral Works, Vol. 6
François Dumont, Jennifer Gilbert, Orchestre National De Lyon, Leonard Slatkin
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 13 sep. 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Gershwin: Orchestral Works
Leonard Slatkin, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Vox on 1 jan. 1974
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo