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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Sibelius: Symphony No. 7; Tapiola
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Philharmonia Orchestra
Clásica - Editado por Decca Music Group Ltd. el 1 jul. 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin Etudes Op. 10 & 25
Clásica - Editado por Mangora Classical el 7 jun. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: English Suites 1-3
Clásica - Editado por Decca Music Group Ltd. el 15 oct. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin Recital at Essex University
Clásica - Editado por Decca Music Group Ltd. el 1 ene. 1972
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev: Pieces from "Romeo & Juliet" & "Cinderella"
Clásica - Editado por Decca Music Group Ltd. el 16 jul. 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvorák & Schumann: Cello Concertos
Philharmonia Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jamie Walton
Clásica - Editado por Signum Records el 11 feb. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Reinecke, Schumann, Gade & Eschmann: Works for Clarinet and Piano
Dimitri Ashkenazy, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Clásica - Editado por paladino music el 1 ene. 2014
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Songs Vol.2
Elisabeth Söderström, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Clásica - Editado por Decca Music Group Ltd. el 21 jul. 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Four Scherzi; Barcarolle; Prelude No.25
Clásica - Editado por Decca Music Group Ltd. el 1 ene. 1968
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps; Concerto for 2 Pianos; Sonata for 2 Pianos; Scherzo à la russe
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andrei Gavrilov
Clásica - Editado por Decca Music Group Ltd. el 1 ene. 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Diabelli Variations
Clásica - Editado por Decca Music Group Ltd. el 1 ene. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos.1 & 3
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, The Cleveland Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Clásica - Editado por Decca Music Group Ltd. el 1 ene. 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Jeu de cartes/Orpheus/Agon
Berlin Deutsches Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Clásica - Editado por Decca Music Group Ltd. el 1 ene. 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: French Suites, BWV 812-817
Clásica - Editado por Decca Music Group Ltd. el 30 jun. 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 4
Vladimir Ashkenazy, The Cleveland Orchestra
Clásica - Editado por Decca Music Group Ltd. el 4 dic. 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7; Overtures Coriolan & Egmont
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Philharmonia Orchestra
Clásica - Editado por Decca Music Group Ltd. el 1 oct. 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps; Les Noces
Ernst Senff Chamber Choir, Berlin Deutsches Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Piano Circus
Clásica - Editado por Decca Music Group Ltd. el 1 ene. 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: Symphony No.8/Funeral and Triumphal Prelude/Novorosslisk Chimes
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Clásica - Editado por Decca Music Group Ltd. el 1 ene. 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Recital of Vladimir Ashkenazy. Moscow, June 9, 1963 (Live)
Clásica - Editado por JSC Firma Melodiya el 21 dic. 2018
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: Italian Concerto; French Overture; Aria Variata
Clásica - Editado por Decca Music Group Ltd. el 1 ene. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps
Berlin Deutsches Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Clásica - Editado por Decca Music Group Ltd. el 1 ene. 1954
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo