Piatigorsky in Shostakovich and Russian Melodies, Plus a Barber-Hindemith Reup

This upload is in response to a request on another site. It consists of a Columbia Entré LP from the early 1950s that comprises two Columbia 78 sets from the previous decade, both featuring the great cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, one of the finest instrumentalists of the 20th century.

Side 1 includes Shostakovich’s Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40, from 1934, when the composer was still in his 20s and before the first Soviet denunciation, centered on Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Piatigorsky’s reading, which dates from January 1942, may have been his third attempt at a recording. Per Michael Gray’s discography, there are unissued efforts from 1940 (with Ivor Newton) and 1941 (with Valentin Pavlovsky, who also is the accompanist on the issued masters). However, some questions have been raised about this dating, so it is not entirely clear when the issued recordings were made.

As noted by the person who requested the LP, this is a particularly fine rendition of the sonata, and may well have been the first recording - Gray does not list an earlier one.

The second side consists of lighter fare, arrangements for cello and piano of familiar Russian melodies. Some of these had achieved pop success, including Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Song of India,” via a 1937 Tommy Dorsey single, and Tchaikovsky’s “None But the Lonely Heart,” which had been used on the soundtrack of a 1944 film of the same name. The arrangements are uncredited, save for Rubinstein’s Melody in F, which is attributed to Popper, presumably cellist/composer David Popper.

Piatigorsky’s recordings come from October 1945, except for the Rachmaninoff Vocalise, which dates from a session one year later, per Gray. The accompanist is Ralph Berkowitz, who would continue to work with the cellist until Piatigosky’s death in 1976. Through the years, the pianist also served in leadership roles at Tanglewood, first as Koussevitzky’s assistant and then as head of the Berkshire Music Center.

Piatigorsky moved to the U.S. in the late 1930s, fleeing the Nazis as did so many musicians and others. He began recording for Columbia in 1940.

The recordings themselves are perfectly fine, except for the Rachmaninoff, which had a peculiar resonance that I have done my best to tame.

Reupload: Barber and Hindemith Sonatas

Several years ago, I transferred another Piatigorsky LP, a 1956 RCA Victor coupling of the Barber Cello Sonata, Op. 6, and the Hindemith Sonata, written for the cellist in 1948. I’ve now reuploaded this for anyone interested. Here's a link to the original post.

1944 Columbia Ad (click to enlarge)

Piatigorsky in Barber and Hindemith

This is something of a belated birthday card for Samuel Barber, one of my favorite composers, whose 100th birthday was earlier this month.

To celebrate, we have one of his Barber's less often heard works. It is the lyrical cello sonata from 1932, in a performance by the great Gregor Piatigorsky. To go with it on this 1956 RCA LP, the cellist programmed the Hindemith sonata, which was written for him in 1948. Ralph Berkowitz accompanies.

This is a well played, well recorded LP of fine music, so I don't have much else to say about it (other than I wish Barber's music was played more often).

I do want to comment on the cover photo of Piatigorsky because it is so different from the usual covers for classical recordings of the time - and of our own time, for that matter. The progenitor of this kind of black-and-white, available light, mood photography is as much film noir as it is the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson. In classical music, its closest relative is probably Robert Hupka's photography of Arturo Toscanini (below left), which did so much to convey the conductor's magnetism.

The cigarette smoking is another cue - then and now conveying a self-possessed cool. The ever-present smoke and cocked eye of American news commentator Edward R. Murrow (above right) is an example. Television at that time was largely a grainy, black-and-white medium.

But the late-night, seen-it-all attitude was perhaps best suited to jazz musicians, and the Blue Note label made something of a specialty of the genre. Below are three examples - Hank Mobley 1 and 2, and Dexter Gordon, pulled from many, many such LP covers.


This is a style that the folks over at the highly amusing site called Crap Jazz Covers call "make me look intense and moody" - perhaps well suited to jazz musicians and incisive commentators, less so to a cello virtuoso from the Ukraine.

By the way, if you are more interested in Piatigorsky than in photos of smoking musicians, his autobiography, Cellist, is available in full online.