Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Ashkenazy is a Russian-born Icelandic-Swiss pianist and conductor known for performances and recordings of classical music.
Dmitri Shostakovich: Dmitri Shostakovich was a Soviet composer whose symphonies, concertos, and chamber works became central to twentieth-century music. Ashkenazy performed and recorded Shostakovich's piano concertos and symphonies.
Piano Concerto No. 3 (Rachmaninoff): Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 is a technically demanding concerto for piano and orchestra, composed in 1909. Ashkenazy's recording of the concerto with André Previn became one of his best-known interpretations.
Gorky: Gorky, now Nizhny Novgorod, is a Russian city on the Volga River. Ashkenazy was born in Gorky in 1937.
Piano performance: Piano performance is the practice of interpreting and playing music on the piano. It describes Ashkenazy's original and enduring role as a concert pianist.
Rudolf Serkin: Rudolf Serkin was an Austrian-born American pianist celebrated for interpretations of Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms. Serkin was among the pianists whose musicianship Ashkenazy encountered and admired.
Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky): Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 is a concerto for piano and orchestra completed in 1875. Ashkenazy's performances and recordings helped establish his reputation in Russian piano repertoire.
Moscow Conservatory: The Moscow Conservatory is a prominent Russian music institution founded in 1866. Ashkenazy studied piano there after entering as a teenager.
Orchestral conducting: Orchestral conducting is the coordination and interpretation of an ensemble by a conductor using gesture and rehearsal. Ashkenazy expanded from solo piano into leading orchestras and shaping ensemble interpretations.
André Previn: André Previn was a German-American pianist, composer, and conductor active in classical music, jazz, and film. Previn and Ashkenazy both built prominent careers as pianists and orchestral conductors.
Piano Concerto No. 2 (Rachmaninoff): Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 is a piano concerto composed between 1900 and 1901. It is a central work in Ashkenazy's recorded and performed Rachmaninoff repertoire.