Gość: Durango
IP: *.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com
12.01.02, 09:20
Born 1937. Ashkenazy, a world famous pianist and conductor, was born in Gorki,
(now) Russia. The following is an excerpt from a linked biography that covers
his extensive credits. "The first part of his long life as a musician was
devoted to the piano. Building on the foundation of his studies at the Central
School of Music and Moscow Conservatoire and his success in winning second
prize at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1955 and first prizes in the Queen
Elizabeth Competition in Brussels in 1956 and the Tchaikovsky Competition in
Moscow in 1962, he spent three decades touring the great musical centres of the
world, performing an ever-growing repertoire in recitals and concertos and
appearing with chamber music partners such as Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman,
Lynn Harrell, Elisabeth Soederstroem, Barbara Bonney and Matthias Goerne.
During this time, he built up one of the largest and most comprehensive
recording catalogues of our day, encompassing almost all the major works of the
piano repertoire. From the 1970s onwards, he became increasingly active as a
conductor and held positions over the years with..." [Full Credits on linked
biography]. Obviously, given his name, it is widely assumed that Ashkenazy is
Jewish. His father, David Ashkenazy, a talented pianist, was Jewish. Vladimir
describes him in his autobiography as "highly Russified". Vladimir's mother was
of ethnic Russian background. Vladimir's mother essentially raised him alone
due to his father's extensive touring schedule. Ashkenazy says he does not
feel "culturally Jewish" and he was baptized, as a child, into the Russian
Orthodox church. Obviously, in a society like the old Soviet Union, sorting out
identity is difficult since all religion was supressed and Soviet 'state anti-
Semitism' was based on ethnicity rather than on religious practice.
Therefore, 'Jewishness' had some influence on Ashkenazy's life even though he
does not identify as Jewish in either a religious or cultural sense. Ashkenazy
was allowed to move to the West in 1963 with his British wife. Soviet Premier
Khrushchev decided to allow him to go based on the apparent tacit understanding
that he would not criticize the Soviet Union. Ashkenazy stuck to this deal for
a decade. However, in the 1970s, he began to criticize the regime. Full
Biography
