Russian, Soviet & Post-Soviet Concertos

A Discography of CDs and LPs
Prepared by Michael Herman
Maintained by Stephen Ellis

Discographies

Introduction
Despite a late start in the field of classical music, Russian composers would take their place in the forefront of this art. The concerto barely existed in early nineteenth-century Russia except as an import from Western Europe, but by the end of that century and throughout the twentieth century, some of its greatest and most popular examples were being composed by Russian and other Soviet composers. The concertos composed by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Glazunov, Prokofiev, Khachaturian and Shostakovich continue to be among the most-performed representatives of this genre. It is the object of this work to document all the recordings of concertos by the most famous as well as most obscure Russian, Soviet and post-Soviet composers. The composers included in this discography are those who wrote concertos and other works for soloist(s) and orchestra that have been issued on CDs and LPs who were born in Russia or in 11 other nations that once were part of the Soviet Union: Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Not included are composers from the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Recorded is here defined as being available in a physical format that can be (or could have been) purchased or obtained from either a commercial or non-commercial source. Tape recordings, DVD’s, music available exclusively as downloads from the internet and formats other than CD’s or LP’s are not included.

The entry for each composer consists of two sections. First there is a compact biographical paragraph that notes some essential information such as place of birth, higher musical education (including schools and prominent teachers), subsequent musical careers in addition to composing, and details of other concertos that have not been recorded. Compositional styles are not discussed in these paragraphs, and readers are referred to the bibliography where various reference books that cover this subject are listed. The second part of each composer entry consists of lists of his or her concertos that have been recorded and the various recordings of each work. A concerto is very broadly defined defined for the purposes of this discography to include any work that has the word “concerto,” “concertino” or “concertante” in its title whether or not a soloist is involved. Also included is any work in which an instrumental soloist is continually involved whatever its title may be. For every concerto that has them, the opus number, key signature and title are noted and the year of composition (when known) is stated for all. The entries of the concertos that have had multiple recordings are listed alphabetically by soloist’s name. Each listing of a recording consists of the following components (again, if known): (1) Performers – soloist(s), conductor, orchestra), (2) Other works on the recording. (3) Label and catalogue number and year of issue and (4) If the recording is a reissue, the original LP or CD release, and its year of issue. Please note that the performers listed are for the entry work and not necessarily for the work or works that complete the disc. Also, in most instances when an entry work is included in a large collection (especially if most of the other works are not related to the discography’s subject), the list of couplings is not given but is replaced by the title of the collection.

Acknowledgements
As noted above, Stephen Ellis has edited this work. However, he was much more than an editor who corrected my errors both inadvertent and egregious, but he also enlightened me with his vast knowledge of composers of the modern era and recordings of their works. His contribution was indispensable and greatly appreciated. I am also very grateful to Holger Sambale from Germany who saw my original manuscript and pointed out many recordings and composers that I was totally unaware of and also a number of factual errors. I have since incorporated these additions and corrections into this work. Thanks also once again to Len Mullenger for hosting my work on his superb MusicWeb International website and also to David Barker for straightening out the technical problems that I submitted along with the document.

Note
(1) Spelling: As the names of practically all composers in this discography are originally written in different alphabets (Cyrillic, Armenian, Georgian, etc.), they often appear transliterated differently in various sources. I have used the most commonly recognized versions, such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, etc. In some cases, where known, I will also indicate a transliteration preferred in the newly independent former Soviet Republics such as Ukraine, Belarus and Azerbaijan.

(2) For the sake of clarity and convenience, all LPs from the Soviet Union’s record manufacturing monopoly are indicated by the label name “Melodiya” although this designation did not come into use until c. 1964.

(3) All recordings listed are CDs unless specifically designated as LPs.

(4) Finally, as this discography is published online, it can always be a work in progress, as the author has the ability to amend the document when necessary with very little difficulty. A work of this type is bound to contain errors and omissions as so much material has been gathered from so many diverse sources.

Composer List