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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Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-4
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1972
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-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
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Essential Chopin
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1; Piano Concerto No. 2
Cristina Ortiz, Boris Belkin, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Favourite Piano Works
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: The Symphonies / Tone Poems / Violin Concerto
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Philharmonia Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev: Cinderella/Glazunov: The Seasons
The Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Preludes Op.3, Op.23 & Op.32
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1976
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky
Esther Yoo, Philharmonia Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Universal Music Ltd. on Mar 31, 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: The Symphonies
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 (Live)
Philharmonia Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Signum Records on Apr 6, 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit; Pavane; Valses nobles et sentimentales
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1985
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Piano Sonatas Nos.1-3
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
"Russian Fantasy" (Oeuvres de Rachmaninov, Borodine, Glinka, Scriabine, Moussorgski)
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vovka Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rubinstein: Piano Concerto No. 4 etc
Shura Cherkassky, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Feb 1, 1996
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
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Isle of the Dead; Symphonic Dances
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Sep 1, 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: The Complete Ballets & Symphonies
Vladimir Ashkenazy, Riccardo Chailly, Charles Dutoit
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-5; Choral Fantasia
Vladimir Ashkenazy, The Cleveland Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Dec 4, 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: Symphony No.2; Finlandia; Valse triste; Romance
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Moments Musicaux
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo