Rudolf Barshai Vol.1 (LP)

Firma Melodiya revisits the art of the Rudolf Barshai, an outstanding domestic musician and founder of the first chamber orchestra in the USSR.

Once the Moscow Chamber Orchestra founded by Barshai and a few other enthusiasts in the Thaw period became a new page in the history of Soviet musical and performing practice. Thousands of concert goers recognized the music of baroque and classicism in a totally new sound, and the Barshai's orchestra's records sold millions of copies competing with the best known pop hits. Their concerts also included contemporary music, but Mozart was the most frequently performed composer in the concert programmes and on the recordings of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra. This record showcases one of the early Salzburg period symphonies composed by sixteen-year-old Mozart and a wittiest Musical Joke (Village Musicians' Sextet), the composer's neat parody of scribbling amateurs.

The recordings of Mozart's works were made in 1972 and 1973.