USSR State Symphony Orchestra
The Russian State Symphony Orchestra is one of the primary orchestras of Russia. Regular symphonic activity in Moscow began in 1959, when Nikolas Rubinstein founded a Moscow branch of the Russian Musical Society, and in the next year founded the Moscow Conservatory. The RMS gave concerts in the Assembly of Nobles or the auditorium of the Bol'shoi (Great) Theater, home of the city's opera company. In 1883, the Moscow Philharmonic Society was founded and also gave concerts. In these years, several private orchestras were also founded and existed for short periods.
The 1917 Bolshevik Revolution resulted in the nationalization of the Conservatory on June 12, 1918, and most old musical institutions were replaced with government and party run ones. The Great (Bol'shoi) Hall of the Moscow Conservatory was taken over for public concert use. (Thus, there are two musical spaces in Moscow with the name "Bol'shoi." Even more confusingly, the orchestra giving concerts at the conservatory was the "Corporation of Solo Artists of the Bol'shoi Theater.") The Education Commisariat had a symphony orchestra, called MUZO Narkompros as a shortening of its full bureaucratic name beginning in 1920. The State Philharmonic was established in 1920. The Russian Philharmonic existed from 1925 to 1928, then was replaced by the Soviet Philharmonic (1928-1931) and finally the Moscow Philharmonic (1931 onwards).
Two new orchestras were founded in the 1930s. First (1931) was the Grand (the word Bol'shoi, again) Symphony Orchestra of All-Union Radio, variously called the USSR Radio Symphony or Radio Moscow Symphony.
In 1936 the USSR State Symphony Orchestra (Gosudarstvennii Simfonicheskii Orkestr Soyuza SSR) was founded and intended to be the premier orchestra of the Soviet Union and gave its first concert in October of that year at the Great Hall of the Conservatory. (Despite official intentions, for most of the time the Leningrad-later St. Petersburg-Philharmonic has generally been ranked as the country's greatest orchestra.) True to its founding as a national orchestra, it began its first tour of the vast country in 1937. Its initial conductor was Aleksandr Gauk (1936-1941). Nathan Rakhlin served during the war years (1941-1945) and his successor was Konstantin Ivanov (1946-1965).
Taking the podium in 1965 and presiding over the orchestra for the majority of its existence has been Evgeni Svetlanov, who has maintained the orchestra's high standards during the changing times to follow. Over the years the orchestra has given many important premiere performances and has been conducted by eminent guest artists from Russia and abroad, and has extensively recorded, especially, during the Soviet era, for Melodiya, the State record company, and its predecessors. It also broadcast on radio and television on a regular basis. It did not make its first foreign tour until 1957, and first visited North America in 1960. It has frequently toured abroad since then.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the orchestra was renamed the Russian State Symphony Orchestra (sometimes Russian Federation Symphony Orchestra). It made its first trip outside the country under its new name in 1992, a five-month sojourn taking it to France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, South Korea, and Japan. It continues to appear abroad, appears regularly in both Moscow and St. Petersburg, and often tours other cities in the country. In the 1990s it recorded a massive overview of the entire history of Russian symphonic music on a hundred compact discs.
The new openness following the end of Communist rule has led to an increase the orchestra's playing of music of Western composers, with especially strong interest in works of Mahler and Villa-Lobos.
© TiVo
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ARSM III, Vol. 9. Shostakovich
Yevgeny Svetlanov, USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by JSC Firma Melodiya on 2 Jan 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Glinka: Ruslan and Ludmilla - Schumann: Cello Concerto , Introduction & Allegro and Widmung (USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Moscow RTV Symphony Orchestra, Russian Philharmonic Orchestra and Latvian Radio Choir featuring Yevgeni Svetlanov, Vladimir Fedoseyev and Ilmar Lapinsch)
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Moscow RTV Symphony Orchestra, Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Latvian Radio Choir
Classical - Released by Firefly Entertainment on 1 Jun 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Great Conductors: Kirill Kondrashin Conducts Prokofiev & Tschaikovsky Concertos
Leonid Kogan, David Oïstrakh, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin
Concertos - Released by Jube Classic on 5 Aug 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Balakirev: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Overture No. 1 on 3 Russian Themes & Russia
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov
Classical - Released by CDK Music Classical on 1 Nov 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Symphonic Poems
Vyacheslav Grokhovsky, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Large Radio Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Calliope on 1 Jan 2004
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Glinka: Ruslan and Ludmila, Opera: Act II "Dance" (Digitally Remastered)
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 6 Aug 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 - Barber: Cello Concerto
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Moscow RTV Symphony Orchestra, Viktor Simon
Classical - Released by Blaricum CD Company (B.C.D.) B.V. on 14 Nov 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture in E-Flat Major, Op. 49 (Digitally Remastered)
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 21 Aug 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 in C Major, Op. 78 (Digitally Remastered)
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Gary Grodberg
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 9 Dec 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Evgeny Svetlanov. Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Tchaikovsky
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Separate Orchestra of the Ministry of Defense of USSR, Grand Choir of All-Union National Radio Service and Central Television Networks, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Nikolai Sergeyev
Classical - Released by JSC Firma Melodiya on 1 Jan 1975
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Paganini: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No.2 in B minor Op.7
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Dimitri Swetlano
Classical - Released by Red Note OMP on 17 May 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy, Chopin & Shostakovich: Piano Works (Live)
Yevgeny Malinin, Stanislav Neuhaus, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Students' Orchestra Of The Moscow Conservatory, Leonids Vigners, Gennady Cherkasov
Classical - Released by Russian Compact Disc on 4 Nov 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Symphony in B Minor, Op. 58 "Manfred"
Yevgeny Svetlanov, USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Patrimonio on 12 Dec 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Violin Works (Live)
David Oïstrakh, Lev Oborin, Vladimir Yampolsky, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin
Classical - Released by Russian Compact Disc on 20 Aug 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini: William Tell Overture
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Dimitri Swetlano
Classical - Released by Red Note OMP on 17 May 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart for you and your Baby
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Mariss Jansons, Camerata Labacensis
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 22 Dec 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninoff: Prince Rostislav, Capriccio on Gypsy Themes & Piano Pieces
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov
Classical - Released by CDK Music Classical on 1 Dec 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rimsky-Korsakov: Pan Voyevoda, Op. 59, Snow Maiden Suite, Golden Cockerel Suite & The Little Oak Stick, Op. 62
Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Yevgeny Svetlanov
Classical - Released by CDK Music Classical on 1 Dec 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Russian Piano School: Yuri Mouravlev
Yuri Mouravlev, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, karl Eliasberg
Classical - Released by Russian Compact Disc on 4 Oct 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Symphony No. 4 In F Minor, Op. 36
Classical - Released by Artia Records on 9 Apr 1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68 (Digitally Remastered)
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 16 Apr 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo