Mravinsky is considered by many to be the greatest conductor from the Soviet period. He toured frequently within the Soviet Union, but very little in Europe, and never in America. The only non-Soviet orchestra he ever conducted was the Czech Philharmonic. Mravinsky fortunately left a prolific number of recordings, even though he stopped recording in 1961. He died in Leningrad in 1988.

Mravinsky and Prokofiev

Given much of Prokofiev's life centered around Petrograd (which changed its name to St. Petersburg, then Leningrad in the Soviet period, and back to St. Petersburg after the USSR collapsed), it is not surprising that Mravinsky is considered one of the great interpreters of Prokofiev's symphonic music. Mravinsky conducted the premiere of Prokofiev's Symphony No. 6 on 11-Oct-1947 in Leningrad with the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra. He conducted the work frequently, although for more than ten years after its premiere it was shelved for political reasons (Zhdanov had labeled it as too western.) Five separate performances of the Sixth conducted by Mravinsky with the LPO remain today. The only other Mravinsky/Prokofiev performances preserved on LP or CD are recordings of the Symphony No. 5, and excerpts from the Suite No. 2 from 'Romeo and Juliet', Op. 64ter. In spite of the few recordings which survive to today, Mravinsky is loved by many Russians as the ultimate interpreter of Prokofiev.