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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Evgeny Mravinsky, Vol. 3
Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, Boris Trizno, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Veniamin Margolin, Evgueni Mravinski
Klassiek - Released by Profil on 1 jun. 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
Klassiek - Released by DOREMI on 1 jan. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kabalevsky: Cello Concerto No. 2, Op. 77 - Prokofiev: Sinfonia Concertante, Op. 125
Daniil Shafran, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Dmitry Kabalevsky, Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Klassiek - Released by Russian Compact Disc on 2 jul. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
M. Glinka: Orchestral Works
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov
Klassiek - Released by CDK Music Classical on 1 feb. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Major, Op. 44 (Digitally Remastered)
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Odysseas Dimitriadis, Victor Eresko
Klassiek - Released by EMG Classical on 14 aug. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lyadov: Orchestral Works
Klassiek - Released by Music Online on 24 apr. 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade Op. 35
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Dimitri Swetlano
Klassiek - Released by Red Note OMP on 17 mei 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rimsky-Korsakov: Symphony No. 2 "Antar"
Klassiek - Released by Music Online on 24 apr. 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: The Seasons Op.37
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Dimitri Swetlano
Klassiek - Released by Red Note OMP on 17 mei 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 1 - Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No. 1
David Oïstrakh, USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Past Classics on 1 nov. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Waltzes and Polonaises by Russian Composers
Klassiek - Released by CDK Music Classical on 1 feb. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini: William Tell: Overture (Digitally Remastered)
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov
Opera - Released by EMG Classical on 9 dec. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvořák: Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 53, B. 108 & Piano Trio No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 90, B. 166 "Dumky"
David Oïstrakh, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Sviatoslav Knushevitsky, Kirill Kondrashin, Lev Oborin
Klassiek - Released by Russian Compact Disc on 27 aug. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Piano Concerto No. 3, 8 Bagatelles & Choral Fantasy
Sviatoslav Richter, Russian State Academy Chorus, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Hermann Abendroth, The USSR TV and Radio Large Symphony Orchestra, Kurt Sanderling
Concertmuziek - Released by Urania Records on 31 mei 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition, Songs & Dances of Death, Golitsyn Train & The Capture of Kars
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Irina Arkhipova, Yevgeny Svetlanov
Klassiek - Released by CDK Music Classical on 1 dec. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvořák: Concerto pour violon, Op. 53 (Mono Version)
David Oïstrakh, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1955
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Op. 35 (Digitally Remastered)
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Heinrich Friedhelm
Klassiek - Released by EMG Classical on 9 dec. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3, Isle of the Dead & Scherzo for Orchestra
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov
Klassiek - Released by CDK Music Classical on 1 dec. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arensky: Egyptian Nights Ballet Suite, Op. 50a
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov
Balletten - Released by OMP Classics on 30 jun. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Suites from "Swan Lake" & "Nutcracker" Ballets
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov
Klassiek - Released by CDK Music Classical on 1 jan. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 2 "Little Russian" & Serenade for String Orchestra
Yevgeny Svetlanov, USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by CDK Music Classical on 1 jan. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo