Chopin Nikita Magaloff

Nikita Magaloff is known, among other things, for his complete Chopin recordings. This programme, recorded some eighteen months before his death, shows his very mature pianism.

Nikita Magaloff was one of the more interesting and charismatic keyboard figures of the twentieth century. Many of his recordings are still available and in modern sound; yet here was a man who was a friend of Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, from whom he took composition lessons, and Ravel, who was an enthusiastic admirer. Magaloff concertized with the most important conductors and orchestras of the day and at the most prestigious festivals. He also collaborated with the leading string players, like violinist Joseph Szigeti.

Magarov started recording in 1933 when he was 21 because he was an accompaniment player, and recorded until 1991 when he died last year. It contains the sound recordings of the sessions recorded by Magarov during the LP era in UK Decca and Orchid Phillips, and the live recording of the Swiss Romand broadcast in Montreux, Switzerland in 1988.

In 1997 Philips reissued Nikita Magaloff’s 1974-78 complete Chopin piano works cycle as a budget-priced, space-saving boxed set that did not last in the catalog very long. It now reappears courtesy of Newton Classics’ ongoing reissues of out-of-print items from Universal Classics’ back catalog.

Nikita Magaloff was one of the more interesting and charismatic keyboard figures of the twentieth century. Many of his recordings are still available and in modern sound; yet here was a man who was a friend of Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, from whom he took composition lessons, and Ravel, who was an enthusiastic admirer. Magaloff concertized with the most important conductors and orchestras of the day and at the most prestigious festivals.