Kirill Kondrashin
Kiril Petrovich Kondrashin was internationally the best-known conductor of the Soviet Union and also the most prominent one to emigrate from that country. He was known for vigorous and solid performances of a wide repertory, particularly the Russian masters.
He was brought up with music, as his family included several orchestral musicians. He took piano lessons, and the family got him lessons in musical theory at the Musical Teknikum with Nikolai Zhilyayev, who had a strong influence on him. While still a student, he made his conducting debut in 1931 at the Children's Theater. He entered the Moscow Conservatory in 1934, where he studied conducting with Boris Khaikin. He graduated in 1936, but by then had obtained a job as assistant conductor at the Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theater in 1934, debuting with the operetta Les cloches de Corneville by Planquette.
In 1936 he was conductor at the Maly Opera Theater in Leningrad, retaining that post until 1943. Along with other artists who were deemed important to the war effort, he was evacuated from besieged Leningrad after the German invasion of Russia. In 1943, he became a member of the conducting staff of the Moscow Bolshoi Theater, which was also in a wartime home outside the capital. He remained with the Bolshoi until 1956, making marked improvement in his interpretation that he attributed to working with the experienced conductors of the Bolshoi and to his being entrusted with several important new productions.
Meanwhile, a demand was building for him as a concert conductor. He received Stalin Prizes in 1948 and 1949. When he left the Bolshoi, it was with the intention of centering his career on the podium rather than in the pit. His fame grew greatly in 1958, when he led the orchestra in the prizewinning appearances of American pianist Van Cliburn at the Tchaikovsky International Competition. Cliburn charmed both his home country and his Russian hosts, and the resulting LP record of the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto, conducted by Kondrashin, was a long-time best seller. This led to his American and British debuts, making Kondrashin the first Soviet conductor to appear in the U.S.
In 1960 he was named artistic director of the Moscow Philharmonic, and as such participated in another piano concerto blockbuster recording with a U.S. piano star, the great Prokofiev Third Concerto recording for Mercury with Byron Janis, still considered by many the greatest interpretation of that brilliant work on disc. Kondrashin's performances were bright and dramatic, tending to programmatic interpretations that commentators saw as the legacy of his theater career. He was the U.S.S.R.'s finest interpreter of Mahler, leading all the symphonies with unusual restraint and with the expressive and dramatic qualities of the music seemingly enhanced by understatement.
He left the Moscow Philharmonic in 1975, turning to guest conducting. As a result of high demand outside the U.S.S.R., he decided to emigrate in 1978. He was named permanent conductor of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in 1979, and immediately began making a notable series of recordings with them, but died in that city only two years later.
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Mahler: Symphony No. 5
Kirill Kondrashin, Moscow RTV Large Symphony Orcherstra
Classical - Released by Denon on Jan. 1, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 1
Kirill Kondrashin, Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by JSC Firma Melodiya on Jan. 1, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmila
Classical - Released by Music Online on Oct. 10, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 in E Minor, Op. 93 (Digitally Remastered)
The Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic Society, Kirill Kondrashin
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on Jan. 1, 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Emil Gilels Legacy, Vol. 7: Rachmaninoff
Emil Gilels, USSR State Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin
Classical - Released by DOREMI on May 19, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Art of Boris Goldstein, Vol. 3
Boris Goldstein, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin, Vladimir Yesipov, Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Classical - Released by IDIS on Feb. 17, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 12
Kirill Kondrashin, Moscow State Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by JSC Firma Melodiya on Jan. 1, 1974
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven & Vieuxtemps: Violin Concertos
David Oïstrakh, Leonid Kogan, Orchestre National de France, The Ussr State Symphony Orchestra, André Cluytens, Kirill Kondrashin
Classical - Released by Russian Compact Disc on Jul. 17, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony Nos. 5 & 7 "The Song of the Night "
Kirill Kondrashin, Moscow RTV Large Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Denon on Jan. 1, 2009
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
Classical - Released by Russian Compact Disc on Aug. 27, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 - The Mercury Masters, Vol. 6
Byron Janis, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin, Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan. 1, 1963
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kondrashin: The Soviet Years. Debussy: Petite Suite & Ravel: Spanish Rhapsody, Waltz
Classical - Released by Music Online on Feb. 1, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvořák: Concerto pour violon, Op. 53 (Mono Version)
David Oïstrakh, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on Jan. 1, 1955
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky & Prokofiev: Piano Concertos
Van Cliburn, Moscow Philarmonic Orchestra, All Union Radio Symphony Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin, Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Classical - Released by Russian Compact Disc on Oct. 7, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kondrashin: The Soviet Years. Kalinnikov: Symphony No. 1; Lyadov: Russian Folk-Songs
Classical - Released by Music Online on Aug. 31, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 2 - Symphony No. 10
Kirill Kondrashin, Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic Society
Classical - Released by Denon on Jan. 1, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Balakirev: Symphony No. 2 in D Minor (Digitally Remastered)
Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic Society
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on Feb. 13, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Concerto for Violin & Cello in A Minor, Op. 102 & Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77 (Live)
David Oïstrakh, Sviatoslav Knushevitsky, USSR TV and Radio Large Symphony Orchestra, Leningrad Radio Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin, karl Eliasberg
Classical - Released by Russian Compact Disc on Aug. 20, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kondrashin: The Soviet Years. Chopin, Scriabin
Kirill Kondrashin, Bella Davidovich, Dmitry Bashkirov
Classical - Released by Music Online on Aug. 31, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Concerto No. 1 In B-Flat Minor, Op. 23
Van Cliburn, Kirill Kondrashin
Classical - Released by Music Manager on Jan. 23, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
50 Essential Classical Pieces by Moscow RTV Large Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Black Sheep Music on May 31, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo