Kiryll Kondrashin in Concert

• One of the greatest conductors of the century in his absolute prime, with the orchestra he conducted for fifteen years and which was almost unequalled at that time.

• The original tapes come from the collection of Pyotr Kondrashin, the conductor's elder son and nowadays a highly respected producer/sound engineer in Moscow who transferred the very fine analogue recordings to digital tapes himself.

• The program comprises some of Kondrashin's great specialities, such as the two works by Prokofiev and also one of his personal favourites: Boris Chaykovsky's Theme ad 8 Variations, a work dedicated by the composer to the renowned Dresdner Staatskapelle and recorded at Kondrashin's last performance with the Moscow Philharmonic, a week before his departure to the West.

• In addition there is also this stunning performance of Liszt 2nd Piano Concerto with Yakov Fliyer as a magnificent soloist in one of his far too few recordings.

Kirill Kondrashin, whose unexpected and tragic death from a heart attack in 1981 at the age of only 67 robbed the world of one of its greatest conductors, was principal conductor of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra from 1960 to 1975. In those fifteen years he raised the standard of this orchestra to an international level. Kondrashin enjoyed enormous prestige in the Soviet Union and abroad, with important composers dedicating works to him, while he also conducted a great" many world premieres of works by among others Shostakovich. He moved to the West in 1978 for political as well as personal reasons, was given asylum in the Netherlands and appointed permanent guest conductor or the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, next to Bernard Haitink. Yakov Fliyer (also known as Jakob Flier), one of the giants of the piano in Russia, and probably the most important piano teacher in that country this century, is not as well-known as he should have been on an international level, but his name lives on through his many pupils, Bella Davidovich, Viktoria Postnikova, Vladimir Feltsman and Youri Egorov among them. This is one of the very few recordings of this wonderful pianist, a great and colourful virtuoso, whose Liszt interpretations were absolutely outstanding!