Igor Markevitch
Igor Markevitch was a leading conductor, known for brilliant performances, especially of twentieth century music. He was also a composer who attracted some interest in his own day. His parents left Kiev when he was two years old. Markevitch was brought up in Vevey, Switzerland. He took piano lessons from his father and then with Paul Loyonnet and also started to compose. The pianist Alfred Cortot saw some of his piano compositions and recommended that the boy study in Paris. In 1925 he enrolled in Cortot's piano class at the École Normale de Musique. He studied harmony, counterpoint, and composition with Nadia Boulanger. The ballet impresario Serge Diaghilev commissioned him to write a piano concerto and a ballet. The concerto premiered in London in 1929, but Diaghilev's death in August of that year caused Markevitch to stop work on the ballet, instead recycling materials from it into a cantata, premiered with great success in Paris on June 4, 1930. Later that year, another new work, a Concerto Grosso, received even greater acclaim. The ballet, Rébus, was first staged in December 1931, and was hailed as a great composition. The next ballet, L'envol d'Icare (June 1933), was once again highly praised. But after this Markevitch began to receive criticism for his use of unrelieved dissonance and his novel use of instruments.
Meanwhile, Markevitch had begun to conduct, debuting on the podium with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1930. He studied conducting with Hermann Scherchen in 1935. His composing activities dropped off as he increased his conducting. He spent World War II in Italy, having acquired Italian citizenship. In 1944 he was appointed music director of the Maggio Musicale Orchestra in Florence. He began conducting full time, coming into demand as a guest conductor, and held a variety of directorships or principal conducting appointments with the Stockholm Symphony Orchestra (1952-1955), the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (1956-1960), the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra (1957-1958), the Concerts Lamoureux of Paris (1957-1961), the Spanish Radio and Television Orchestra (1965-1969), the Monte Carlo Orchestra (1967), and the orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome (1967-1972). His American debut was with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1955. He also began giving conducting master classes, especially in Monte Carlo, from 1969.
He was known for his performance of the Russian repertory and twentieth century music. He had a quick temper, reflected in his music in sharp emotional shifts, yet the music was meticulously prepared and nearly always followed the composer's directions with exceptional care. In the late '90s, his recordings came back into demand in re-release, and even his compositions were finding a small but interested market and were praised anew for their originality.
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Gounod: Messe solennelle de Sainte Cécile; An Interview with Igor Markevitch (Igor Markevitch – The Deutsche Grammophon Legacy: Volume 19)
Irmgard Seefried, Gerhard Stolze, Hermann Uhde, Czech Chorus, Prague, Czech Philharmonic, Igor Markevitch
Klassiek - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 jan. 1966
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphonie No. 5 & Ode à la joie de la Symphonie No. 9 (Mono Version)
Orchestre Lamoureux, Igor Markevitch
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: Symphony No. 103 'Drum Roll'; Symphony No. 104 'London'; Webner: Preciosa Overture
Orchestre Lamoureux, Igor Markevitch
Klassiek - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 27 aug. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel, Mussorgsky: Tableaux d'une exposition (Mono Version)
Berliner Philharmoniker, Igor Markevitch
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1954
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Gounod: Symphony No. 2; Bizet: Jeux d'enfants; Debussy: La Mer; Debussy: Danses for Harp and Orchestra (Igor Markevitch – The Deutsche Grammophon Legacy: Volume 11)
Orchestre Lamoureux, Igor Markevitch
Klassiek - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 jan. 1958
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21 by Clara Haskil
Clara Haskil, Igor Markevitch, Orchestre Lamoureux
Klassiek - Released by Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording on 27 dec. 2021
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: Symphonies Nos. 101 & 102 (Mono Version)
Orchestre National de France, Igor Markevitch
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1956
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn: Symphonie No. 4 "Italienne" - Schubert: Symphonie No. 8 "Inachevée" (Mono Version)
Orchestre National de France, Igor Markevitch
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1956
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphonie No. 1, Op. 68 (Mono Version)
Symphony Of The Air Orchestra, Igor Markevitch
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20; Piano Concerto No. 24
Clara Haskil, Orchestre Lamoureux, Igor Markevitch
Klassiek - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 sep. 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Works of Lili Boulanger: Du Fond De L'abime - Psaume 24 & 129 - Vieille Prière Bouddhique - Pie Jesu (Transferred from the Original Everest Records Master Tapes)
Orchestre Lamoureux, Elisabeth Brasseur Choir, Igor Markevitch
Klassiek - Released by Everest on 1 jan. 1960
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique Op.14
Orchestre Lamoureux, Igor Markevitch
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 jan. 1961
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Modest Mussorgsky: Russian Songs, Pictures at an Exhibition - Igor Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms
Igor Markevitch, Berliner Philharmoniker, Russian Symphony Orchestra, Galina Vishnevskaya
Symfonieën - Released by Praga Digitals on 1 okt. 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Igor Markevitch: Un véritable artiste
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 23 sep. 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Apollon musagète; Suites for Small Orchestra; 4 Norwegian Moods; Circus Polka
London Symphony Orchestra, Igor Markevitch
Klassiek - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 jan. 1964
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bizet: Carmen Suites, Symphonie en Ut & Chants du Rhin (Les indispensables de Diapason)
Igor Markevitch, André Cluytens, Maria Grinberg
Klassiek - Released by Les Indispensables de Diapason on 15 jun. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Overtures (Igor Markevitch – The Deutsche Grammophon Legacy: Volume 4)
Orchestre Lamoureux, Igor Markevitch
Klassiek - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 jan. 1960
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: L'histoire du soldat; Symphony de Psaumes
Klassiek - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 jan. 1962
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Antologia de la Zarzuela
Spanish R.T.V. Symphony Orchestra, Igor Markevitch
Klassiek - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 jan. 1968
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique; Cherubini: Anacreon Overture; Auber: La muette de Portici Overture (Igor Markevitch – The Deutsche Grammophon Legacy: Volume 9)
Orchestre Lamoureux, Igor Markevitch
Klassiek - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 jan. 1961
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Bassoon Concerto, K. 191; Haydn: Sinfonia concertante; Cimarosa: Concerto for two flutes; Schubert: Symphony No. 3 (Igor Markevitch – The Deutsche Grammophon Legacy: Volume 3)
Maurice Allard, Georges Alès, Aurèle Nicolet, Orchestre Lamoureux, Berliner Philharmoniker, Igor Markevitch
Klassiek - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 jan. 1958
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo