Edward Serov, we hardly know you! A Russian conductor trained in Kiev, Serov was the assistant of the great Yevgeny Mravinsky at the Leningrad Philharmonic, the winner of the Herbert von Karajan conducting competition in Berlin, and the longtime leader of the Odense Symphony of Denmark. In the West, Serov is best-known -- if he's known at all -- as the conductor of a superlative series of recordings of the symphonies of well-known Carl Nielsen and nearly unknown Ib Norholm. In those recordings, Serov showed himself to be as ...
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Edward Serov, we hardly know you! A Russian conductor trained in Kiev, Serov was the assistant of the great Yevgeny Mravinsky at the Leningrad Philharmonic, the winner of the Herbert von Karajan conducting competition in Berlin, and the longtime leader of the Odense Symphony of Denmark. In the West, Serov is best-known -- if he's known at all -- as the conductor of a superlative series of recordings of the symphonies of well-known Carl Nielsen and nearly unknown Ib Norholm. In those recordings, Serov showed himself to be as strong-willed an interpreter as Mravinsky or Karajan but with more warmth than the former and more humanity than the latter.For the lucky few who sought out Serov's recordings on the Danish Kontrapunkt label, this disc of Shostakovich's theater music with the St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra will be a welcome addition to their Edward Serov collection. While one might wish the works were more substantial -- for example, like the Fifth or Tenth symphonies -- one cannot wish for more...
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