Leningrad Recital

In 1961, Ruggiero Ricci was already a world famous violin soloist. He asked the brilliant up and coming Martha Argerich, who was only 19, to join him on a tour to Russia. Part of their recital in Leningrad was broadcast and preserved by the Leningrad Radio. This part is presented here, completely remastered, for the first time ever. The program includes Prokofiev sonata for solo violin that Ricci gave the World Premiere of in 1959, 6 years after Prokofiev's death.

Vladimir Sofronitsky was among the greatest Russian pianists of the twentieth century, and, while he had become a somewhat less prominent figure following his death, he must be still considered in the company of Richter, Gilels, and Yudina. In his time, Sofronitsky became widely recognized as the leading interpreter of and authority on the music of Scriabin in Eastern Europe. He was also highly praised for his interpretations of the piano works of Robert Schumann and he was a highly respected teacher.

Mischa Maisky started studying the cello at the age of eight. An immensely talented student, he entered the Riga Conservatory. Discouraged by the rigid curriculum, however, he moved to Leningrad in 1965. He not only won the Soviet Union's national cello competition, but also had an acclaimed debut with the Leningrad Philharmonic. In 1966, Maisky won a prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.

One of the greatest cellists of the twentieth century, a performer who combined technical brilliance with soulful expressiveness, Danil Shafran was born in 1923, in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). Shafran's first teacher was his father, who was the principal cellist of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra.

Berman’s first teacher was his mother, herself a pupil of Isabella Vengerova, but at an early age he had lessons from Savshinsky of the Leningrad Conservatory. Berman first played in public at the age of four, and at the age of seven he took part in a concert at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, subsequently being asked to record Mozart’s Fantasy in D minor K. 397, and a composition of his own…

Vladimir Sofronitsky was among the greatest Russian pianists of the twentieth century, and, while he had become a somewhat less prominent figure following his death, he must be still considered in the company of Richter, Gilels, and Yudina.

The piano music of the American composer Phillip Ramey (b. 1939) is rooted in the motoric athleticism of Prokofiev and Bartók, to which influences he has blended sober lyricism, spicy modernist dissonance and a fresh approach to the grand Romantic gesture. This second Toccata Classics album of his piano music presents the first recordings of the early Slavic-inflected Diversions and the dark, dramatic Piano Sonata No. 4. The other works include the loosely dodecaphonic Epigrams ……