Troika Kogan

The history of the Russian chamber ensemble of the middle of the 20th century, in all possibility, did not know a more intricate yet remarkable brilliant group of musicians than the celebrated trio of Emil Gilels. Leonid Kogan and Mstislav Rostropovich. All to different in their essence were these three artistic individualities – these three virtuosos, spoilt children of fortune, who were brought together at various stages of disclosure of their outstanding talents. At that, there was not a great difference between their respective ages – Gilels was born in 1916, Kogan was born in 1924 and Rostropovich was born in 1927. Nonetheless, whereas Gilels was already able to reconsider and revise in many ways his principles of work, departing further and further from a pure demonstration of capabilities of his breathtaking technique, Rostropovich and Kogan were still passing through their lengthy period of thrill over their virtuosic powers, affecting their audiences in a straightforward manner.

This is one of only 2 discs Oregon recorded as a trio. The original quartet with percussionist/sitarist Colin Wallcot was intact until Walcott's death in a tour bus accident in November '84 after many recordings with the group. After a break, percussionist Trilok Gurtu entered the band for the next 3 recordings spanning a handful of years, but then departed. Instead of running out and hiring another percussionist, the remaining trio of founding members starting touring and recording as a trio, up until 1997's "Northwest Passage" CD, where they featured 2 different percusionists. The bands only other trio recording, following "Troika",is 1995's "Beyond Words" which takes a completely different approach as "Beyond" is basically a live-in-the-studio recording replicating an Oregon live performance in the context of a high quality studio sound recording.

Leonid Kogan occupies a privileged place of honor at the time of quoting the great soloists of the instrument. His igneous vitality, mercurial energy, indomitable artistic conviction and unrestricted passion with which he "played" with the violin as it were made Kogan (1924-1978) a legend that transcended the barriers of spellbinding virtuosity to become obligatory reference, alpha and omega for many accomplished violinists of the present and future.