The American National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences created the Grammy Music Awards back in 1959. Over the years, there have been many amazing events in the history of the award, but the most striking thing for us was the fact that in 2005 … Mikhail Gorbachev became the winner of the award!
How did it happen that the former General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee was awarded the most prestigious music award in the world?
The thing is that in 2004 Mikhail Gorbachev became a voice-over in the collection of musical fairy tales «Peter and the Wolf». In addition to Mikhail Sergeyevich, the wonderful Sophia Loren and … at that time already the former US President Bill Clinton were engaged in the album scoring! However, despite their outstanding contributions, the award went to Gorbachev — he received a Grammy in the category «Best Text Album for Children.»
The contribution of the Russian National Orchestra, which became the first musical group in the Russian Federation to receive a Grammy, did not go unnoticed.
And the very first musician in the USSR to receive this Oscar of the musical world was the brilliant pianist Svyatoslav Richter. He became famous for his victory at the Third All-Union Competition of Musicians-Performers, held in 1945.
The competition was followed by fame, fans and tours, which, surprisingly, took place not only in the USSR, but also abroad.
America fell at Richter's feet: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles applauded the brilliant performer. He was hailed as a rock star, and his concerts, where he performed with the Philadelphia and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, were not to break through. Therefore, it was no surprise to anyone that Svyatoslav Richter was awarded the Grammy in 1961. His performance of Johannes Brahms' Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 is considered unsurpassed! Unfortunately, despite eleven subsequent nominations, Richter did not receive any more awards.
Another brilliant pianist, Daniil Trifonov, became the youngest Russian performer to receive the award. He was only twenty-three when he was nominated in two categories at once: «Best Solo Instrumental Album» and «Best Classic Compendium.» However, that year, as well as the subsequent 2015, when he was nominated again, Daniel did not receive the award. Only three years later, at the sixtieth anniversary ceremony, Daniil Trifonov finally received the award in the category «Best Classical Instrumental Solo Album» for his work on a unique album with etudes by Franz Liszt called «Transcendental. Daniil Trifonov Plays Franz Liszt «.
The pianist and conductor Vladimir Ashkenazi became the record holder among Russian musicians. He was awarded seven (!) Grammy awards — more than all his Russian colleagues.
He received his first award in 1974 in the category «Best Performance of an Instrumental Solo with Orchestra» for the Piano Concertos by Ludwig van Beethoven. But no less than the prize, Vladimir Ashkenazi was delighted by the fact that the great Joseph Brodsky wrote about him in the poem Roman Elegies:
«North! Into a huge iceberg frozen piano
Smallpox quartz in a granite vase,
The plain, unable to stop the sight,
Ten running fingers of a sweet Ashkenazi. »
He received an Ashkenazi Grammy both for his instrumental solo performance with an orchestra and for his chamber music performance, and he received his last award to date in 2010 for the best instrumental performance with an orchestra. He and Evgeny Kissin played Sergei Prokofiev's Second and Third Piano Concertos. By the way, Evgeny Kissin also received a Grammy for this performance.
Other Russian and Soviet musicians who won the prize include geniuses such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Yuri Bashmet, Gidon Kremer and Maxim Vengerov. The performances and interviews of these amazing musicians can be seen on the interactive Russian TV site eTVnet!
Watch programs, performances and film adaptations at any time from the archive, where you will also find documentaries, concerts, humor and sports. A nice bonus — all programs from the archive are shown without annoying ads.
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