The Archive: Gennady Rozhdestvensky

The Archive: Gennady Rozhdestvensky

Gennady Rozhdestvensky was the first Russian conductor to be appointed head of major Western orchestras, such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra (from 1978 to 1981) and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra (in 1981). Born in 1931, he made his début at the Bolshoi a year before Stalin’s death. He is deeply committed to contemporary music and was a close friend of such great composers as Dmitri Shostakovich and Alfred Schnittke. He also championed Sergei Prokofiev’s later works, which had been banned until then. These recordings made in London in 1978 of the music of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Sergei Rachmaninov and Shostakovich are an illustration of his work as a champion of Russian orchestral music. The insightful beauty and the colour and rhythm of his interpretations have helped to make Russian repertoire a favourite among central European audiences. Gennady Rozhdestvensky enchants orchestras and audiences alike with the magic of his baton: witty and implacable, and easy-going by nature, he draws his inspiration directly from the compositions.