Vladimir Ashkenazy

(b Gorky, 6 July 1937). Icelandic pianist of Russian birth. He made his début in Moscow in 1945 and studied there under Oborin. After competition successes, he toured the USA in 1958; in 1963 he settled in England, moving to Iceland in 1968. A passionate interpreter of Russian music (notably Rakhmaninov), he also brings warmth and sincerity to the Romantic repertory and particular sensitivity and clarity to Mozart. He is also a perceptive conductor.

---

An internationally recognized solo pianist, chamber music performer, and concert conductor, Vladimir Ashkenazy (born 1937) has made music with some of the most prestigious orchestras and soloists. In addition, he has recorded a large storehouse of classical and romantic works. His virtuoso recordings have earned him five Grammy awards plus Iceland's Order of the Falcon.

Born to Evstolia Plotnova and David Ashkenazy in Gorky (now Nizhni Novgorod), Russia, on July 6, 1937, Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy showed talent early in his childhood. He attended Moscow's Central Music School and the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied with Anaida Sumbatyan and Lev Oborin. In his late teens, he won second place in an international Chopin piano competition in Warsaw, Poland. In 1956, he won first prize in the Queen Elizabeth International Piano Competition in Brussels, Belgium. At the age of 23, Ashkenazy married Icelandic pianist and fellow student Thorunn Johannsdottir, who became his travel manager and the mother of their five children - Vladimir Stefan, Nadia Liza, Dmitri Thor, Sonia Edda, and Alexandra Inga.

From Russia to the World

Beginning his musical career at the keyboard, Ashkenazy clenched his place as a master musician by winning the 1962 Tchaikovsky international piano competition. According to his KGB [Soviet secret police] companion, travel ignited Ashkenazy's enthusiasm for freedom in the West. He debuted in concert with the London Symphony Orchestra and performed a recital at London's Festival Hall in 1963, the year he parted permanently with his homeland.

The break was not without trauma. In an interview with John Stratford and John Riley in October 1991, Ashkenazy reflected on the miseries of living under Communist mind control. He spoke of the constant brainwashing, which forced people into madness. Under a nightmarish regime, he recalled how easily some citizens became disoriented and retreated into psychotic states.

Ashkenazy left all that behind, settled in Iceland in 1973, and refused to teach his children Russian. It was in the 1970s that he began directing his efforts away from piano toward conducting. He performed with the best - the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and Concertgebouw Orchestra - and toured the United States, South America, China, Japan, and Australia.

Recalled the Past

In 1985, with the aid of Jasper Parrott, his British manager and close friend, Ashkenazy published a straightforward autobiography, Ashkenazy: Beyond Frontiers. The text covers his childhood and musical training at special schools, where the talented children of Russia's elite were prepared for competition against foreign musicians. He describes the privileges that the top performers earned for themselves by winning contests and denounces state suppression of individuality, spirituality, and self-knowledge. Critic Peter G. Davis of the New York Times Book Review compared Ashkenazy's revelations to similarly painful memories expressed by other artists fleeing to the West from Soviet regimentation.

In a distinguished, post-Russian musical career, Ashkenazy has earned a reputation for accuracy, dynamism, and silken phrasing. He has teamed with such star performers as Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Lynn Harrell, Elisabeth Soederstroem, Barbara Bonney, and Matthias Goerne. In 1987, Ashkenazy began a long and profitable alliance as conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He has served as guest conductor for the Cleveland Orchestra, and, since 1989, as chief conductor of the Berlin Radio Orchestra.

Of Ashkenazy's lengthy discography and excellent public performances, reviewers tend to choose lavish descriptives - natural, poetic, opulent, tonally rich, energetic, and virtuoso. Later critiques noted that the competent, passionate young pianist gave place to a serious conductor who slacks when he returns to the keyboard for a solo concert. In September 2000, American Record Guide critic John Beversluis hesitantly suggested that Ashkenazy has lost interest in piano and charged that his lackluster performances sound routine, detached, and mechanical.

Absorbed in Music

While serving as music director of the European Union Youth Orchestra, conductor laureate of the Philharmonia Orchestra, and honorary chairman of the Greater Princeton Steinway Society, Ashkenazy makes his home in Meggan, Switzerland. His residence is separate from the studio, which he can reach in bad weather by a ten-meter tunnel. He owns two pianos - a Steinway and a Bosendorfer - and a library containing thousands of CDs. For performances, his wife buys polo shirts in London, which he wears with custom-made suits from Switzerland. His wooden batons come from Amsterdam. He remains attuned to his work and considers conducting and piano practice a strenuous form of physical exercise.

In his mid-sixties, Ashkenazy credited his wife Thorunn with simplifying his life by traveling with him and helping with minor difficulties, like removing a splinter when he jabbed a baton into his hand. During air travel, he uses quiet time for studying scores rather than reading novels. He depends on dinner after a late concert and sometimes stays up after midnight for post-performance receptions with fans, foreign dignitaries, and royalty. At night, he hears music in his dreams. When he has time alone with his family, he enjoys reading nonfiction about the Cold War era, watching the news, and eating simple meals cooked by his wife and her sister, who is the family housekeeper. On vacation in Greece or Turkey, he follows a daily regimen of swimming, boating, or walking.

In speaking of his career, Ashkenazy hesitates to explain why he chose music or why music so consumes his life. In a June 2000 interview with journalist Michael Green of Swiss News, Ashkenazy described his interests as just music rather than solo piano, chamber music, or orchestral conducting. Modestly, he explained, "Naturally, I understand what it means to play an instrument, what it takes to produce the sound, but I'm not exceptional."

Ashkenazy characterized the approach of the instrumentalist-conductor as different from that of the conductor who has never performed, either solo or with a symphony. He surmised that the conductor who is also an instrumentalist has more empathy for symphony members. He supplied examples of his patient efforts to make individual players feel comfortable and relaxed. In estimating the future of music, however, he warned that there are more talented young musicians than the market demands.

In a critique for American Record Guide of Ashkenazy's 2001 recording of Mozart's piano concertos, music analyst Thomas McClain characterized the man in multiple disciplines: "Ashkenazy relishes the roles of pianist and conductor, and to his credit he fills both roles quite well." Comparing him to Bruno Walter, Jose Iturbi, and Mozart himself, McClain added that "Ashkenazy has the excellent musicians of the Philharmonia to work with, so he has a built-in advantage" for producing a sound that is "big, bold, and lively."

Books

Almanac of Famous People, 7th ed., Gale Group, 2001.

Debrett's People of Today, Debrett's Peerage Ltd., 2001.

Periodicals

American Record Guide, March 1981; July-Aug 1981; September 1981; February-March 1982; July-August 1982; January-February 1995; May-June 1995; July-August 1995; July-August 1996; September-October 1996; September-October 1997; January 2000; July 2000; September 2000; July 2001.

Atlantic, July 1981.

Audio, January 1984; March 1984.

Billboard, May 2, 1981.

High Fidelity, June 1980; July 1980; September 1981; November 1981; December 1981.

Library Journal, January 1998.

Los Angeles Magazine, August 1981.

Los Angeles Times, January 16, 1985.

New Statesman, December 17, 1982.

New Yorker, April 20, 1981; October 19, 1981.

New York Times, December 27, 1981; October 4, 1996; March 12, 1997; November 24, 1997; March 26, 2000; March 29, 2000.

People Weekly, June 15, 1981; March 29, 1982.

Progressive, January 1984.

San Francisco, May 1981; March 1984.

Stereo Review, June 1980; November 1980; July 1981; October 1981; October 1982; January 1983; February 1983; April 1983; December 1983; January 1984; January 1995; April 1995; May 1995; July 1996.

Swiss News, June 2000.

The Washington Post, January 23, 1985; March 10, 1997; November 25, 1997.

Yale Review, Winter 1981; Spring 1981; October 1982; Autumn 1983; Spring 1984.

Online

"Ashkenazy, Vladimir," Biography.Com,http://search.biography.com/cgi-bin/frameit.cgi?p=http%3A//search.biography.com/print-record.pl%3Fid%3D3955 (October 29, 2001).

Biography Resource Center,http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC (October 28, 2001).

Contemporary Authors Online, The Gale Group, 2000 (October 28, 2001).

"Shostakovich and the Soviet State," Shostakovichiana,http://www.siue.edu/~aho/musov/ash/ash.html (October 29, 2001).

"Vladimir Ashkenazy," http://tms.hkcampus.net/~tms95225/ashkenazy.htm (October 29, 2001).

"Vladimir Ashkenazy," http://www.koningin-elisabethwedstrijd.be/bots/archives/bio/ashkenazycv.html (October 29, 2001).

"Vladimir Ashkenazy," The Greater Princeton Steinway Society,http://www.princetonol.com/groups/steinway/Ashkenazy.htm (October 29, 2001).

• Born: July 06, 1937 in Gorki, Russia

Biography

Vladimir Ashkenazy's father was a professional pianist, but he never taught his son. It was his mother who found Ashkenazy his first teacher at age six. His father was a non-observant Russian Jew, and his mother was a Russian of Eastern Orthodox faith. After his debut in Moscow at the tender age of eight, Ashkenazy was subsequently put on track for a musical career and enrolled in Moscow's Central Music School. His regular piano teacher there was Anaida Sumbatian.

In 1955 he entered the Moscow Conservatory, studying with the great pianist Lev Oborin. In the same year he won second prize in the Fifth Warsaw International Chopin Competition. The following year he won the Gold Medal in the Brussels Queen Elizabeth International piano competition and then toured the United States in 1958. In 1961 he married an Icelandic pianist who was studying in Moscow, Sofia Johannsdottir. He won first prize in the Second Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1962, sharing that honor with British pianist John Ogden. In 1963 Ashkenazy and his wife, travelling on their Soviet passports, went to London, where he made his debut in an orchestral concert at Festival Hall, a great success. He stayed on in England and centered his life and career there, beginning a long association with England's Decca (London) records. He quickly made a reputation as one of the most brilliant pianists in the Russian tradition. In 1971 he moved with his family to Reykjavik, where he was awarded Iceland's Order of the Falcon. In 1972 he took Icelandic citizenship and later established a home base in Switzerland.

He took up the conductor's baton in the 1970s and steadily increased his activity in that sphere, becoming principal guest conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra of London (1981), music director of the Royal Philharmonic of London (1987), principal guest conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra (1987), and chief conductor of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (1989). Between 1998 and 2003, he was the Czech Philharmonic's chief conductor, and he took up leadership of Japan's NHK Symphony Orchestra in the 2004-2005 season, while continuing as music director of the European Union Youth Orchestra. With the end of the Soviet Union, he has made triumphant return concerts in Russia.

His piano playing is bright and incisive, with clear articulation and intellectual depth that does not interfere with the production of warm feeling. He has exceptional control over tone color. Although he possesses a considerable degree of sheer strength, his excellent playing in delicate passages creates the dominant impression. His repertoire is wide-ranging, and he has recorded most of it, from Haydn to the works of the first half of the twentieth century. He has made particularly valuable recordings of the complete piano works of Chopin, Rachmaninov, and Scriabin. Other excellent series include music of Brahms, Liszt, and the complete Prokofiev concertos. As a conductor, he is highly effective in Russian music, particularly in Prokofiev, and has made the leading recording of that composer's Romeo and Juliet. He has made his own orchestration of Musorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and recorded the work in that highly effective version, in Gortchakov's orchestration, and in its original form as a piano solo. He remains active in both careers. ~ Joseph Stevenson, All Music Guide

Discography

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Opp. 109, 110, 111 Buy this CD	William Walton: Symphonies No. 1 & 2 Buy this CD	Brahms: Piano Quintet; Clarinet Trio Buy this CD	Brahms: Symphony No. 3; Variations on a theme by Haydn; Dvorak: Carnival Overture Buy this CD	Jean Sibelius: Orchestral Works Buy this CD
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22, K482; Concerto for Two Pianos, K365 Buy this CD	Dmitry Shostakovich: Symphony No. 2 Buy this CD	Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Opp.101 & 106 "Hammerklavier" Buy this CD	Dimitri Shostakovich: Funeral and Triumphal Prelude/Symphony No.8/Novorssiisk Chimes Buy this CD	Alexander Borodin: In Central Asia/Symphony No.1in E Flat Major & No.2 in B Minor Buy this CD

Show More Albums Show Fewer Albums

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)