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This orchestra is also known as the Osipov Balalaika
Orchestra and the Osipov National Academics Folk Instruments Orchestra of
Russia. In 1919 the domrist
Pyotr Alexeyev and the balalaika player Boris Troyanovsky founded it and
after its first concert it became known as the First Moscow Great-Russian
Orchestra of Folk Instruments.
Within a very short period of time they were touring all the regions
in the USSR and over the next 17 years they would undergo two more name
changes; The All-Russian Radio Committee Folk Instruments Orchestra in 1928
and The State Folk Instruments Orchestra of USSR in 1936. In 1940 Nikolai Osipov was given
the post of Chief Conductor and Music Director, and under his leadership
the orchestra changed considerably.
He introduced many traditional instruments into the orchestra and
commissioned many new pieces that would give the audience a whole new range
of folk and classical music to experience. The orchestra disbanded in 1941 but the government
decided that it would be good to bring them back together and Nikolai
Osipov and Boris Romanov had the job of finding musicians and taking them
to Moscow to be part of the re-formed ensemble under the name The State
Russian Folk Orchestra. They
would perform many concerts for the forces on the battlefront and their
final concert of WWII was in the Kremlin as a victory dedication. Such was the recognition that
Nikolai Osipov received, that in 1946 the orchestra was named after
him. After Nikolai's death,
Dmitri Osipov would take over the conductor's baton and over the next few
years the orchestra other leaders of the orchestra would include Vitaly
Gnutov, Nikolai Kalinen, Viktor Smirnov and Alexander Gauk. In 1996 it was once again renamed
to become The Osipov National Academic Folk Instruments Orchestra of
Russia. Under the baton of
Viktor Dubrovsky the orchestra would once more widen its horizons and be
heard performing works by the great composers such as Rossini, Glinka,
Mussorgsky and Stravinsky. In 2005 Vladimir Pontin took over the leadership
of the 80 current musicians as the Artistic Director and Principal
Conductor and he continues to expand the orchestra's repertoire as well as
retain the traditional folk music which it became famous for championing.
Vasily Andreyev recordings
In the Moonlight
Mercury 432 000-2 (CD: Balalaika Favourites)
Conductor - Vitaly
Gnutov
Under the Apple Tree
Mercury 432 000-2 (CD: Balalaika Favourites)
Conductor - Vitaly
Gnutov
Waltz of the Faun
Mercury 432 000-2 (CD: Balalaika Favourites)
Conductor -
Vitaly Gnutov
Domra - Rudolf Belov
Traditional Russian
At
Sunrise
Mercury 432 000-2 (CD:
Balalaika Favourites)
Conductor -
Vitaly Gnutov
Domra - Rudolf Belov
Arranger -
Vera Gorodovskaya
Sources:
1.
http://www.ossipovorchestra.ru/en/orchestra/
2.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_Russian_music
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