Leonid Kogan Archive

Leonid Kogan plays Russian Music = Violin Concertos by KHACHATURIAN, KHRENNIKOV, PROKOFIEV, WEINBERG, DENISOV – Leonid Kogan, violin/ Pierre Monte / Krill Kondrashin / Pavel Kogan / Yevgeny Svetlana /Boston Symph. Orch. – Praga Digitals

Leonid Kogan plays Russian Music = Violin Concertos by KHACHATURIAN, KHRENNIKOV, PROKOFIEV, WEINBERG, DENISOV – Leonid Kogan, violin/ Pierre Monte / Krill Kondrashin / Pavel Kogan / Yevgeny Svetlana /Boston Symph. Orch. – Praga Digitals

Leonid Kogan plays Russian Music = KHACHATURIAN: Violin Concerto in d minor; Rhapsody-Concerto for Violin and Orchestra; KHRENNIKOV: Violin Concerto No. 2 in C Major, Op. 23; PROKOFIEV: Violin Concerto No. 2 in g minor, Op. 63; WEINBERG: Violin Concerto in g minor, Op. 67; DENISOV: Partita for Violin and Chamber Orchestra after J.S. Bach – Leonid Kogan, violin/ Boston Symphony Orchestra/ Pierre Monteux (Khachaturian)/ USSR State Symphony Orchestra/ Kyrill Kondrashin (Rhapsody, Prokofiev)/ State Academic Symphony/ Yevgeny Svetlano (Khrennikov)/ Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra/ Kyrill Kondrashin (Weinberg)/ Instrumental Ensmble/ Pavel Kogan (Denisov) – Praga Digitals PRD 250 373 (2 CDs) 73:40; 79:56 (7/14/17) [Distr. by Harmonia mundi/PIAS] *****: Leonid Kogan displays his incisive, often blazing talent in Russian concertos that embrace a spectrum of musical styles. Leonid Kogan (1924-1982) embodied the Russian counterpart to his self-proclaimed idol, Jascha Heifetz. Aristocratic in mien and temperament, Kogan studied not with Leopold Auer but with his most esteemed pupil, Abram Yampolsky, with whom he perfected a classical technique that tolerated no imprecision or false rhetoric. Several composers created works for Kogan’s especial talent, of which two—the Khachaturan Concerto-Rhapsody and the Khrennikov Concerto in C – find their way into this assemblage of performances, 1958-1981. Even […]

BRAHMS: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1, 2 & 3; Four Hungarian Dances – Leonid Kogan, v./ Andrei Mytnik, p. – Archipel

BRAHMS: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1, 2 & 3; Four Hungarian Dances – Leonid Kogan, v./ Andrei Mytnik, p. – Archipel

Impassioned, fiery Brahms from Leonid Kogan in live performance warrants our unqualified admiration. BRAHMS: Violin Sonata No. 1 in G Major, Op. 78; Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 100; Violin Sonata No. 3 in d minor, Op. 108; Four Hungarian Dances – Leonid Kogan, v./ Andrei Mytnik, p. – Archipel ARPCD 0355, 79:38  (1/8/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: The most patrician of Russian violinists, Leonid Kogan (1924-19882) inscribed the live Brahms performances heard here 1951-1956. The two Moscow recordings of Brahms Sonatas in G and d minor (1955) come to us in good, solid monaural sound. The A Major Sonata (1956) derives from a London recital. May speculate about the nature of Kogan’s hard, incisive, driven sound which he produced on two Guarnerius del Gesu instruments, intimating that Kogan relied heavily on steel strings. Kogan sought through his basically “Soviet” musical training to project the same polish and majestic finish as Jascha Heifetz, his admitted idol. Whatever the truth, Kogan can produce – given the often thin, piercing nature of his (French) tone, with minimal vibrato – as lovely and soft a cantilena as any, especially if we audition the opening to the last movement of the […]