Gennady Rozhdestvensky: A Soviet Star
This extraordinary musician was the first Soviet conductor to direct foreign orchestras in European cities such as London and Vienna.
Rozhdestvensky is one of the most recorded conductors of our time, with his repertoire comprising a jaw-dropping 786 works to date and comprising works from baroque to modern. Rozhdestvensky has showcased many contemporary pieces and has a strong interest in conducting new compositions. His conducting combines high spontaneity, majestic gestures and intuition to deliver wonderfully individual performances.
Rozhdestvensky was born in Moscow in early May 1931 to conductor Nikolai Anosov and soprano Natalya Rozhdestvenskaya, both considered fine, high-calibre musicians. Rozhdestvensky chose to take his mother’s name in its masculine form, so as to avoid any speculation of nepotism due to his father’s standing in the Soviet musical community.
At the age of twenty, Rozhdestvensky made his debut at the Bolshoi Theatre conducting Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty, founding a lifelong connection to the venue before becoming their principle conductor between 1964–70. In 1974, Rozhdestvensky succeeded Antal Dorati as chief conductor of the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. In the following years, Rozhdestvensky took on the role of chief conductor at the BBC Symphony Orchestra and later at the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.
To celebrate his 80th birthday, Rozhdestvensky conducted a one-off evening at the Bolshoi Theatre with the programme featuring Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Symphony and pieces from The Sleeping Beauty — a hat tip to the fact he was also celebrating 60 years since his conducting debut.
Rozhdestvensky married pianist Viktoria Postnikova in 1969, and they have a son together, acclaimed violinist Sasha Rozhdestvensky. 2016 comes with a series of concerts for Rozhdestvensky in Moscow, the Far East as well as on the main European circuit.
A few weeks ago Russian conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky celebrated his 85th birthday, affording us an ideal opportunity to present some of his earlier recordings.
Prokofiev’s ballet ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is one of the most popular creations by this composer and is performed all over the world.
Stravinsky’s works form a major part of Rozhdestvensky’s repertoire, and together with this brilliant orchestra, which he led from 1961 to 1974, he created a fascinating recording of Stravinsky’s ballet.
This recording provides an opportunity to hear a Soviet pianist who is not well known in the Western world. Together with Georgian pianist Alexander Iokheles, Rozhdestvensky has created a brilliant recording of de Falla’s popular composition.
An unusual work is presented here by Rozhdestvensky along with well-known Russian cellist Daniel Shafran. Both artists regularly work together on a great variety of repertoire.
Sibelius’s rarely performed orchestral suite ‘Rakastava’ (The Lover) is a fabulous recording by Gennady Rozhdestvensky and ‘his’ Soviet radio orchestra.
