Belarusian conductor Walter Mnatsakanov has passed away at the age of 85.

Mnatsakanov was a prolific conductor and influential teacher in Minsk who went on to make a number of recordings with Naxos Records as a conductor and an arranger.

AMong his credits as an arranger include Arensky’s opera “Raphael,” Dmitri Hvorostovsky’s “Baritone Arias” album, and an album of orchestral works from Tchaikovsky, Grieg, and Sinisalo with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra.

As a conductor, he recorded film music composed by Shostakovich from his own arrangements with groups such as the Byelorussian Radio and TV Symphony, as well as the Minsk Symphony.

Here is one of his recordings of Shostakovich’s film music.

Here he is performing the music of Kabalevsky.