CD-644: The Art of Gregor Piatigorsky

"This is Piatigorsky at his best, and this restoration brings out the
color of his cello in a way that no prior release of this material came close to. The Shostakovich is riveting, and the EMI miniatures
come to life magically."
Henry Fogel, Fanfare

Track Listing:

• BRAHMS: Sonata No.1 in E minor, Op. 38
• SHOSTAKOVICH: Sonata in D major, Op. 40
  
  Reginald Stewart, piano
  recorded live at the Library of Congress, 1947
  
  
• WEBER-arr. PIATIGORSKY: Adagio and Rondo, from Op. 10/2 (rec. 12/34)
• FRANCOEUR-arr. TROWELL: Sonata in E (Largo and Vivo) (rec. 12/34)
• SCRIABIN-arr.PIATIGORSKY: Nocturne in C# minor, Op. Posth (rec. 5/34)
• TCHAIKOVSKY-arr. PIATIGORSKY: Valse Sentimentale, Op. 51/6 (rec. 12/33)
• CHOPIN-arr.PIATIGORSKY: Nocturne in C# minor, Op. Posth. (rec. 5/34)
• WEBER-arr. PIATIGORSKY:Sonata in A major from Op. 10/5 (rec. 5/34)
  
  Ivor Newton, piano
  recorded 1933-4 by HMV and released on 78rpm discs

GREGOR PIATIGORSKY
by Terry King

The legendary cellist was born in pre-revolutionary Russia and began to study with his father, and amateur violinist, at the age of seven. One year later, due to desperate economic needs of the family, little "Grisha" began playing cello in nightclubs and movie houses. Bythe age of nine he was able to enter the Moscow Conservatory, and by leaps and bounds found his way to the upper echelons of Moscow's culture, performing for or with the likes of Glazounov, Chaliapin, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, and even Lenin. By fourteen he became solo cellist with the Bolshoi Theater, and by twenty-one became the Berlin Philharmonic's principal cellist. From this point on he will encounter composers Busoni, Strauss, Stravinsky, Ravel, Hindemith, and virtually all important international musicians, and will become one of the most important artists of the century. Works by Hindemith, Martinu, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Walton, Milhaud, Copland, Foss and many others were written for Piatigorsky. His legacy can be heard through his recordings which encompass his entire career (c.1924-1972); in addition, these mementos of his performing career were matched generously by his rare gifts as a teacher. We that knew him consider it our profound gift.

The highly esteemed pianist Ivor Newton (1892-1981), one of Piatigorsky's regular partners, relates in his autobiography At the Piano and in an interview in the London Times:

When I visited Casals at his retreat in Prades on the French side of the Pyrenees, he talked of his younger colleagues. Of one distinguished cellist Casals said, 'He is a born musician.' Of another he said, 'He is a born virtuoso.' When I mentioned Piatigorsky, Casals declared, 'He is the rarest of them all. He is a born artist.'

When the BBC asked me to select and talk about some of my favorite records (I was asked) which record I would make my companion for life if I were allowed only one. The question was almost impossible to answer as another which was put to me; if, as an acccompanist, I had to spend my entire career working with only one artist, whom would Ichoose? After much thought I decided that I would be quite happy to travel round the world and make music interminably with Piatigorsky. I have known many great musicians and have been happy to count a number of them among my friends, so that whoever I choose I should miss much that is delightful and memorable to me, but Piatigorsky has many of the qualities that most appeal to me.

He was first of all an entirely dedicated musician to whom the cello was sacred and music an art to be served with religious fervour. His musical friends and partners were the elect of the world of music - Schnabel, Horowitz, Artur Rubinstein, Toscanini, Stravinsky and Rachmaninov and what he called the 'youngsters' - the generation of Daniel Barenboim. In his last letter to me, at the end of his life, he wrote: 'I am enclosing a cheque for 500 (pounds) for your Musician's Benevolent Fund.'

Together, Piatigorsky and I introduced the Shostakovich Cello Sonata, Op. 40 to London. Piatigorsky arrived four days before the concert and had not by that time sent me a copy of the music, which was not then available in England, I rushed at once to see him. 'How could you be so unkind as to not let me see the music?' I asked. 'Don't worry,' he said, 'you won't find it at all difficult. There are only one or two uncomfortable passages for the pianist.' That would not be my, or many other pianists' description of the piano part of this work...

Excerpt from the sleevenotes, ©1990 Terry King

*Restorer's note: This recording has been remastered using the Pristine Audio XR technique, which requires access to modern equivilent recordings for tonal reference. In the case of the short pieces, in all but one case these recordings appear to be unique - only the Chopin arrangement has been recorded recently. As such we were able to produce an accurate correctional EQ for this recording, and we then used it as the basis for the other HMV recordings, which would probably have used much the same recording set-up as the Chopin. Although it may be possible to further improve the sound of the other arrangements with access to a wider range of modern recordings, it was felt that the improvement in tonal quality already achieved was more than sufficient to justify the release of these almost-XR remasterings of Piatigorsky's 1933/4 recordings.

Find out more:   Brahms Cello Sonata No. 1: 2. Allegretto quasi Minuetto CD covers to print:   CD-writing cuesheet: [What's that?]

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