A live recording of Bruckner’s mighty Seventh Symphony is a particularly important addition to the discography of this great Russian conductor, whose supreme interpretative skills are further demonstrated by live performances of Mozart (also new to the catalogue), Haydn, Glazunov and his beloved Tchaikovsky. All the recordings are taken from concerts given by Mravinsky and the Leningrad Philharmonic, a legendary partnership that lasted for 50 years. Catalogue no: 7243 5 75953 2 2 (2CD)

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CD1 (67.26)

Mozart: Overture ‘Don Giovanni’, November 1968

Bruckner: Symphony No.7, February 1967
Live recordings; Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra; Philharmonic Hall, Leningrad

CD2 (77.29)

Haydn: Symphony No.88, November 1968

Tchaikovsky: Francesca da Rimini, March 1983

Glazunov: Symphony No.5, September 1968
Live recordings; Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra; Philharmonic Hall, Leningrad



THE BIOGRAPHY - Evgeny Mravinsky (1903-1988)

Evgeny Mravinsky was born in St Petersburg in 1903, the son of artistic and aristocratic parents. He studied at Petrograd University and at the Leningrad Conservatoire, and made his debut as a conductor in 1929. He was with the Leningrad Opera from 1931 to 1938, the year he won the All-Union Conductors’ Competition in Moscow and was appointed chief conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic, a position he held for 50 years until his death in 1988. In 1937 he premiered the Fifth Symphony of Shostakovich and subsequently developed a close working relationship with the composer, whose Symphony No.8 is dedicated to Mravinsky. With his Leningrad orchestra, he toured regularly within Central Europe and visited Japan, Britain and the USA. Mravinsky, the most distinguished Soviet conductor of his time, built the Leningrad Philharmonic into one of the world’s greatest orchestras. He is remembered as one of the finest interpreters not only of the great Russian composers, such as Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich, but also of the masters of the Austro-German school, including Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Bruckner.

THE RECORDINGS

Since Mravinsky’s death in 1988, much of his recorded legacy (mostly of live performances, because he disliked recording in the studio) has appeared, either officially or unofficially, on discs emanating from Russia. However, this present compilation offers two live recordings – of Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony and of the overture to Mozart’s Don Giovanni (from 1967 and 1968 respectively) – that are new to the Mravinsky discography. The Bruckner is particularly important because it is the only known recording of the conductor’s reading of the work. The tape of Glazunov’s Symphony No.5, recorded in 1968, comes from a private collection and is in much better sound than the version listed in the current catalogue. Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini was a Mravinsky speciality to which he brought great passion and excitement, while in Haydn’s Symphony No.88 the conductor demonstrates his mastery of classical interpretation.



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