Aleksandr Ivanovich Orlov (russian: Александр Иванович Орлов) ( St. Petersburg 18 August 1873 - Moscow October 10, 1948) was a Russian opera conductor, and People's Artist of the RSFSR (1945). He was the first head of the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra of All-Union Radio (1930–1937).

Biography

Orlov studied violin at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, under P.A. Krasnokutske, and conducting under P.F. Juon in Berlin. From 1902 he worked as a symphonic and opera conductor in the cities of southern Russia. From 1912-1917 he was conductor of the Symphony Orchestra under

Serge Koussevitzky Sergei Alexandrovich KoussevitzkyKoussevitzky's original Russian forename is usually transliterated into English as either "Sergei" or "Sergey"; however, he himself adopted the French spelling "Serge", using it in his signature. (SeThe Koussevit ...

in Moscow, and at the same time implemented a number of opera productions, 1914-1924. From 1925-1929 Orlov was Principal Conductor of

Kiev State Academic Ukrainian Opera The Kyiv Opera group was formally established in the summer of 1867, and is the third oldest in Ukraine, after Odessa Opera and Lviv Opera. The Kyiv Opera Company perform at the National Opera House of Ukraine named after Taras Shevchenko in ...

, and a professor of the Kiev Conservatory. His students included N. Rachlin. From 1930 Orlov headed the

Grand Symphony Orchestra of All-Union Radio The Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra is a Russian classical music radio orchestra established in 1930. It was founded as the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, and served as the official symphony for the Soviet All-Union Radio network. History Follow ...

, and premiered many works by Soviet composers, and directing opera performances on radio and at the Moscow Conservatory. He conducted Yehudi Menuhin's first recorded performance of Beethoven's Violin Concerto in 1946.The gramophone: 1997 Lastly, the earliest generally available recording of Yehudi Menuhin playing Beethoven'^ Violin Concerto, taken down live in Moscow in 1 946 under the baton of Alexander Orlov

Selected Opera Recordings

* 1937 - "Eugene Onegin" (Onegin - Panteleimon Nortsov, Lensky - Ivan Kozlovsky, Tatiana - Elena Kruglikova) * 1946 - "Lakme" sung in Russian (Lakmé - Hope Kazantsev, Gerald - Sergei Lemeshev) * 1947 - "La Traviata" sung in Russian (Violetta - Elizabeth Shumskaya, Alfredo Germont - Ivan Kozlovsky, Germont - Paul Lisician) * 1948 - "Eugene Onegin" (Onegin - Andrey Ivanov, Lensky - Ivan Kozlovsky, Tatiana - Elena Kruglikova)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orlov, Aleksandr Ivanovich 1873 births 1948 deaths Russian conductors (music) Russian male conductors (music) Saint Petersburg Conservatory alumni