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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Symphonies Nos.5 & 7
Philharmonia Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Oct 16, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
In mir klingt ein Lied... Die schönsten Klavierstücke von Frédéric Chopin
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Christoph Eschenbach
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jan 1, 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphony No.5/Overture Leonore No.3
Philharmonia Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1982
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BEETHOVEN, L. van: Piano Sonatas Nos. 21, 32 (Ashkenazy)
Classical - Released by Eterna on Feb 3, 1958
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 2 "Lobgesang"
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Juliane Banse, Sibylla Rubens, Vinson Cole, Rundfunkchor Berlin, Berlin Deutsches Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius, Glazunov Violin Concertos
Esther Yoo, Philharmonia Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Universal Music Ltd. on Oct 15, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 6
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Four Ballades; Trois Nouvelles Etudes
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1965
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Etudes Op. 25
Classical - Released by Classically on Oct 26, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20, Piano Concerto No. 6 (Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt Edition – Decca Recordings, Vol. 11)
Vladimir Ashkenazy, London Symphony Orchestra, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on Jan 1, 1968
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Piano Trios
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay, Mats Lidström
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Songs
Elisabeth Söderström, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Etudes
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1975
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: The 4 Scherzi; Prelude, Op. 45; Barcarolle, Op. 60
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1968
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 23, TH 55: 1. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso (Excerpt)
Vladimir Ashkenazy, London Symphony Orchestra, Lorin Maazel
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 3, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Vladimir Ashkenazy, The Cleveland Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Dec 4, 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Piano Works Vol. 7
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Feb 3, 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Piano Works Vol. 5
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Mar 1, 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky
Esther Yoo, Philharmonia Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Universal Music Ltd. on Mar 31, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky & Chopin (Live From St. Petersburg’s White Nights / 2012)
Ingolf Wunder, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jan 1, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ashkenazy In Moscow & London
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by imp on Jan 1, 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo