Gregor Piatigorsky (1903-1976) is a singular phenomenon among the cellists of the twentieth century as a person, pedagogue and musician. He was an ideal partner to the great instrumentalists of his time: Heifetz, Milstein, Horowitz, Rubinstein, Rachmaninov, Bartok and many others.
More than two generations of young musicians were introduced to the art of cello-playing by him, in cities like Berlin, Boston, Philadelphia, Tanglewood, Chicago, Los Angeles, Baltimore and Paris. He experienced the Russian October Revolution as the first cellist in the Moscow Bolshoi Orchestra. He came to Leipzig via Warsaw, where he studied with Julius Klengel, and went through hard times before becoming first cellist under Furtwangler in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (1924-29).
For the first time Piatigorsky’s fascinating playing during the most important stages of his career can be experienced comprehensively on the 10CDs documented in this box set.
Beethoven, Ludwig van
Cello Sonata no.2 in G minor, op.5 no.2
Cello Sonata no.5 in D major, op.102 no.2
String Trio in D major, op.9 no.2
Variations (12) on 'Ein Madchen oder Weibchen' for cello and piano, op.66
Bloch, Ernest
Schelomo (Hebraic Rhapsody for cello and orchestra)
Boccherini, Luigi
Cello Sonata in C major
Brahms, Johannes
Cello Sonata no.1 in E minor, op.38
Double Concerto for violin and cello in A minor, op.102
Chopin, Frederic
Introduction and Polonaise brillante, op.3
Debussy, Claude
Romance
Dvorak, Antonin
Cello Concerto in B minor, op.104
Elgar, Edward
Cello Concerto in E minor, op.85
Faure, Gabriel
Duets (2), op.10
» no.2 Tarantelle
Granados, Enrique
Danzas espanolas (12), op.37
» no.2 Orientale
Grieg, Edvard
Cello Sonata in A minor, op.36
Haydn, Franz Joseph
Divertimento no.5 in D major, Hob.XI:114 (arr. Gregor Piatagorsky)
Hindemith, Paul
Cello Concerto (1940)
Mendelssohn, Felix
Piano Trio in D minor, op.49
Prokofiev, Sergei
Cello Sonata in C major, op.119
Romeo and Juliet, op.64
» Masks (Act 1)
Ravel, Maurice
Piano Trio in A minor
Piece en forme de Habanera
Rubinstein, Anton
Melodies (2), op.3
» no.1 in F major
Saint-Saens, Camille
Carnival of the Animals
» The Swan
Cello Concerto no.1 in A minor, op.33
Schumann, Robert
Cello Concerto in A minor, op.129
Fantasiestucke (3), op.73
Shostakovich, Dmitri
Cello Sonata in D minor, op.40
Strauss, Richard
Don Quixote, op.35
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich
Piano Trio in A minor, op.50 'In Memory of a Great Artist'
Walton, William
Cello Concerto
