Leonard Slatkin: Orchestral Works Leonard Slatkin

• Leonard Slatkin (b. 1944): Endgames:
• 1 Slatkin: Endgames 12:45
• The Raven:
• 2 Slatkin: The Raven: I. The Sleeper 05:02
• 3 Slatkin: The Raven: II. The Bells 05:34
• 4 Slatkin: The Raven: III. Romance 01:58
• 5 Slatkin: The Raven: IV. The Coliseum 04:23
• 6 Slatkin: The Raven: V. The Raven 09:32
• Kinah:
• 7 Slatkin: Kinah 13:02
• Daniel Slatkin (b. 1994): In Fields:
• 8 Slatkin: In Fields 03:57
• Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897): 21 Hungarian Dances, WoO 1, Book 4:
• 9 Brahms: 21 Hungarian Dances, WoO 1, Book 4: No. 2 in F-Sharp Minor. Andantino (Arr. for Violin & Orchestra) [Live] 03:57
• Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809): Cello Concerto No. 2 in D Major, Op. 101, Hob. VIIb:2:
• 10 Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 2 in D Major, Op. 101, Hob. VIIb:2: III. Rondo (Arr. E. Korngold for Cello & Orchestra) 02:27
• Traditional: Fisher’s Hornpipe (Arr. C. McTee & F. Slatkin for Orchestra):
• 11 Traditional: Fisher’s Hornpipe (Arr. C. McTee & F. Slatkin for Orchestra) 01:37
• Felix Slatkin (1915 - 1963), Cindy McTee (b. 1953): Wistful Haven (After Dvořák's B. 178):
• 12 Slatkin, McTee: Wistful Haven (After Dvořák's B. 178) 03:16
• Amerigo Marino (1925–1988), Felix Slatkin: Carmen's Hoedown (After Bizet's WD 31):
• 13 Marino, Slatkin: Carmen's Hoedown (After Bizet's WD 31) 02:36
• Total Runtime 01:10:06

Info for Leonard Slatkin: Orchestral Works

Leonard Slatkin’s latest recording, Slatkin Conducts Slatkin. The album features works written by generations of Slatkin’s musical family, beginning with three of his own compositions: Endgames, a whimsical concertino grosso for woodwind ensemble and strings played by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra; The Raven, narrated by Emmy Award-winning actor Alec Baldwin and performed by the Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra; and Kinah, an elegy to his parents, Felix Slatkin and Eleanor Aller, celebrated studio musicians and members of the Hollywood String Quartet. It also includes a piece by his son, Daniel Slatkin, a rising star in the world of film music; three short works arranged by his father; as well as first-release recordings made by his mother on cello and his father on violin. Digital bonus tracks consist of his wife Cindy McTee’s arrangement of Shenandoah featuring world-renowned flutists Sir James and Lady Jeanne Galway; his brother, cellist Fred Zlotkin, performing Ravel; and a piece written by his ancestor Modest Altschuler, founder of the Russian Symphony Orchestra of New York.

Leonard Slatkin celebrated his 75th birthday in September 2019. Many of the selections in this program come from a concert given in his honor and are also a tribute to his remarkable musical family, both past and present. Historical recordings include Leonard’s cellist mother, Eleanor Aller, being conducted by Korngold in the Haydn concerto and a 1944 broadcast of his father, Felix, as a solo violinist in Brahms. Every piece here has a deeply personal connection for the family. For his composition The Raven, Leonard used Edgar Allan Poe’s poem in a work that is “almost like a concerto for speaker and orchestra.”

"Most people know me as a conductor, some have read my blogs and books, and some have even seen my piano-playing on display a couple of times. But not many know that I have been active as a composer, almost from the time I was born. Granted, my early efforts took the form of childhood improvisations on the piano and violin, but that creative side of me has always been present.

The Raven is set in five movements, the first four performed respectively by the woodwind, percussion, brass and string sections, and connected by a strident chord that leads to the chimes tolling midnight. In the performance on this album, the narration is spoken by the great actor Alec Baldwin, who brings an intimate energy to the poems. We performed the work at the Manhattan School of Music during a concert celebrating my 75th birthday." (Leonard Slatkin)

Alec Baldwin, narrator
Detroit Symphony Orchestra (tracks 2, 3)
Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra (track 4)
Leonard Slatkin, conductor

Leonard Slatkin
Internationally acclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin is Music Director Laureate of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO), Directeur Musical Honoraire of the Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL), and Conductor Laureate of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO). He maintains a rigorous schedule of guest conducting throughout the world and is active as a composer, author, and educator.

Slatkin has received six Grammy awards and 35 nominations. His latest recording is the world premiere of Alexander Kastalsky’s Requiem for Fallen Brothers commemorating the 100th anniversary of the World War I armistice. Other recent Naxos releases include works by Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and Berlioz (with the ONL) and music by Copland, Rachmaninov, Borzova, McTee, and John Williams (with the DSO). In addition, he has recorded the complete Brahms, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky symphonies with the DSO (available online as digital downloads).

The 2021-22 season includes engagements with The Orchestra Now, Manhattan School of Music, SLSO, DSO, ONL, Orquestra Simfònica Illes Balears, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, MÁV Symphony Orchestra in Budapest, Russian National Orchestra in Moscow, Carnegie Mellon University, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Orquesta de València, Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, and the Philharmonic Orchestra, Singapore.

A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists by the United States government, Slatkin also holds the rank of Chevalier in the French National Order of the Legion of Honor. Moreover, he has received the Prix Charbonnier from the Federation of Alliances Françaises, Austria’s Decoration of Honor in Silver, the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton Award, and the 2013 ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Recognition Award for his debut book, Conducting Business. A second volume, Leading Tones: Reflections on Music, Musicians, and the Music Industry, was published by Amadeus Press in 2017. His latest book, Classical Crossroads: The Path Forward for Music in the 21st Century (2021), is available through Rowman & Littlefield.

He holds honorary doctorates from many institutions, including The Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, Michigan State University, Indiana University, the University of Rochester, the University of Maryland-College Park, George Washington University, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Washington University in St. Louis.

Slatkin has held posts as Music Director of the New Orleans Symphony, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC, and he was Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London. He has served as Principal Guest Conductor of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and the Minnesota Orchestra in Minneapolis, where he founded their annual Sommerfest. Furthermore, he has held titled conducting positions with the Blossom Music Center, and both the Grant Park and Great Woods music festivals.

He has conducted virtually all the leading orchestras in the world. Among those in America are the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. Elsewhere he has worked with all five London orchestras, the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich’s Bayerischer Rundfunk, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

Slatkin’s opera conducting has taken him to the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Santa Fe Opera, Vienna State Opera, Stuttgart Opera, and Opéra Bastille in Paris.

Founder and former director of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra and National Conducting Institute in Washington, DC, Slatkin remains a passionate music educator. He has conducted and taught at such institutions as the Manhattan School of Music, The Juilliard School, the Aspen Music School, the Jacobs School at Indiana University, the National Orchestral Institute, the Music Academy of the West, and the New World Symphony.

Born in Los Angeles to a distinguished musical family, he is the son of violinist-conductor Felix Slatkin and cellist Eleanor Aller, founding members of the famed Hollywood String Quartet. He began his musical training on the violin and first studied conducting with his father, followed by Walter Susskind at Aspen and Jean Morel at Juilliard. He is the father of one son, Daniel, and makes his home in St. Louis with his wife, composer Cindy McTee.

He is represented by Stefana Atlas at Arabella Arts (manager responsible for the Americas, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand), Julia Albrecht at Konzertdirektion Schmid (manager responsible for Europe), and Maki Takemitsu at Kajimoto (manager responsible for Asia).

Booklet for Leonard Slatkin: Orchestral Works