Kirill Kondrashin in concert with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra

Because of the enthusiastic international reception of first Globe CD with Kirill Kondrashin conducting the Moscow Philharmonic (GW 6006), we have decided to continue this series with as many recordings as are at the moment available from the private collection of Pyotr Kondrashin, eldest son of the great conductor, and himself an outstanding producer and engineer.

As opposed to our first Kondrashin release, which was a mixed program, we now offer an all-Tchaikovsky program, which should be of even greater interest to the public. The performances were recorded during a concert on 29 March, 1978 in Moscow in absolutely outstanding sound for a live performance!

The excerpts from the Nutcracker ballet all come from Act 1. The famous (and over-recorded) Nutcracker Suite Op. 71a mostly contains the music from Act 2 of the ballet, but there are no separate recordings of these great scenes from Act 1, which includes the Waltz of the Snowllakes, with here the Moscow Children's Choir also taking part in the performance. 

 

A performance of Tchaikovsky's 'Pathetique' by the Moscow Philharmonic and Kirill Kondrashin does not need any recommendation, for it will be clear that this is one of the most authentic interpretations one can hear, performed by a top orchestra.

Kirill Kondrashin, whose unexpected and tragic death from a heart attack in 1981 at the age of only 67 robbed the world of one of its greatest conductors, was principal conductor of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra from 1960 to 1975. In those fifteen years he raised the standard of the orchestra to an international level. Kondrashin enjoyed enormous prestige in the Soviet Union and abroad, with important composers dedicating works to him, while he also conducted a great many world premieres of works by among others Shostakovich. He moved to the West in 1978 for political as well as personal reasons, was given asylum in the Netherlands and appointed permanent guest conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, next to Bernard Haitink. Kondrashin had also been the first Soviet conductor to conduct after the War in the United States, where his success had also been overwhelming. Especially his appearing in 1958 with Van Cliburn, the first American in history to win the Tchaikovsky Competition, brought him great international popularity.