Historical Russian Archives (10CD) (Album)

The Russian conductor Rudolf Barshai was born in 1924 and studied at the Moscow and Leningrad Conservatories. He quickly became part of a group of outstanding young Soviet musicians and composers including Shostakovich, Richter, Oistrakh and Rostropovich. He frequently performed with them, andas he was a highly skilled arranger, had Shostakovich's agreement to adapt several of his string quartets forstring orchestra - the 10th quartet can be heard in this form in this extensive survey of his work as conductorand arranger.

Barshai established the Moscow Chamber orchestra in 1955 and it soon gained a world class reputation for its searching performances of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn and Schubert. It would be impossible to includeall of the prolific number of recordings Barshai has made, but this set captures the essence of the man - a highly skilled arranger, a champion of new music. A perceptive interpreter of the classical and romantic repertoire (and who believed that a 45-strong chamberorchestra of today was indistinguishable from that of a full orchestra of the classical period), with an awarenessof what would become known as ‘period' interpretation.

Barshai was also meticulous to the point of obsessionover rehearsals. This tried the patience of many Western orchestras, but always produced superb performances. Very much a ‘musician's musician', Barshai became friends with Tippett, Britten and Menuhin. Now in hiseighties, he lives in Switzerland and works tirelessly toserve ‘the composer's will', still producing hiswonderful transcriptions for string ensemble.