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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Musique symphonique russe (Mono Version)
Lorin Maazel, Ferenc Fricsay, Igor Markevitch
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on Jan 1, 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Requiem (Mono Version)
Galina Vishnevskaya, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Igor Markevitch
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on Jan 1, 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev: Pierre et le loup, Op. 67 - Tchaikovsky: Suite de Casse-noisette, Op. 71a (Mono Version)
André Reybaz, Philharmonia Orchestra, Igor Markevitch
Classical - Released by BNF Collection on Jan 1, 1954
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Milhaud: Les Choéphores - Honegger: Symphonie No. 5 "Di tre re" (Mono Version)
Heinz Rehfuss, Orchestre Lamoureux, Igor Markevitch
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on Jan 1, 1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Igor Markevitch: un véritable artiste - Vol. 1 (Mozart, Gluck, Haydn, Cimarosa, Schubert)
Classical - Released by Mangora Classical on Jul 21, 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Victoria: Magnificat; Espla (Y Triay): De Profundis
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on Jan 1, 1967
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nathan Milstein with Markevitch and Sabata in Concert
Nathan Milstein, Schweizer Festpielorchester, New York Philharmonic, Igor Markevitch, Victor De Sabata
Classical - Released by Archipel on Dec 8, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Igor Markevitch Conducts Richard Wagner and Claude Debussy
Berliner Philharmoniker, Orchestre Lamoureux, Igor Markevitch
Classical - Released by IDIS on Apr 30, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Orchestral Music (Waltzes) - Saint-Saens, C. / Sibelius, J. / Busoni, F. / Liszt, F. / Berlioz, H. (Markevitch) (A Portrait of the Waltz) (1954)
Philharmonia Orchestra, Igor Markevitch
Classical - Released by Naxos Classical Archives on Jan 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev, S.: Peter and the Wolf / the Love for 3 Oranges Suite / Scythian Suite (Stokowski, Markevitch) (1941, 1955)
Basil Rathbone, French National Radio Orchestra, Igor Markevitch, All-American Orchestra, Léopold Stokowski
Classical - Released by Naxos Classical Archives on Jan 1, 1955
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Mussorgsky & Stravinsky: Francesca da Rimini - Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk , 2 Arias - Six Songs - The Rite of Spring
Galina Vishnevskaya, Igor Markevitch, London Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Infinity on Dec 22, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Igor Markevitch
Amedeo Berdini, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Igor Markevitch, Orchestre National de France, Ottovon Rohr, Berliner Philharmoniker
Classical - Released by Tahra on May 19, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Great Conductors: Igor Markevitch & Berliner Philharmoniker (Recorded 1954 & 1956) (Igor Markevitch)
Berliner Philharmoniker, Igor Markevitch
Classical - Released by Jube Classic on Oct 1, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps - Apollon Musagete
RCA Victor Orchestra, Igor Markevitch
Symphonic Music - Released by Puzzle Productions on Jan 1, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz & Satie - Igor Markevitch
Classical - Released by Urania on Jan 1, 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Russische Orchestermusik (Mono Version)
Orchestre Lamoureux, Igor Markevitch
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on Jan 1, 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Dukas: L'apprenti sorcier (Mono Version)
Igor Markevitch, Philharmonia Orchestra
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on Jan 1, 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
30 Great Conductors - Igor Markevitch, Vol. 18
Classical - Released by Documents 2 on Dec 13, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Schubert, Vol. 9
Igor Markevitch, Berliner Philharmoniker
Classical - Released by ArnebAudio on May 8, 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Schubert, Vol. 8
Igor Markevitch, Vienna Konzerthaus Quartet
Classical - Released by ArnebAudio on May 8, 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Symphonie Phantastique, Op. 14
Igor Markevitch, Orchestre Lamoureux
Classical - Released by Ancien Prodige on Aug 4, 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo