LEONID KOGAN
BEETHOVEN: VIOLIN CONCERTO
HANDEL: SONATA IN E MAJOR; PAGANINI: CANTABILE
BACH: SARABANDE (PARTITA No. 2)
FALLA/KOCHANSKI: SUITE POPULAIRE ESPAGNOLE
BRAHMS/KREISLER: HUNGARIAN DANCE No. 17
DEBUSSY/HEIFETZ: BEAU SOIR
SHOSTAKOVICH/TZIGANOV: 4 PRELUDES
BONUS: LECLAIR: SONATA FOR 2 VIOLINS (WITH LISE GILELS-KOGAN)
All performances filmed in London and Paris, 1960s.
Sources: BBC Archive and INA Archive
DVB 7243 4 92835 9 6

Oistrakh's younger rival Leonid Kogan is what you might call a "fiddler's fiddler". Like Jascha Heifetz, Kogan could indulge in the most mind-boggling pyrotechnics while keeping a cool exterior. You can see for yourself, especially in Joachim's tough first-movement cadenza for the Beethoven Violin Concerto, which Kogan plays with a maximum of aplomb and (apparently) a minimum of effort. It's fascinating how in this and similar contexts the mere flick of an eyebrow assumes disproportionate expressive significance. As with the Oistrakh DVD, there's the added fascination of seeing 'accompanying' artists whose celebrity - at least for us for most us - was limited to being named on record labels. In this case they're the pianists Andrey Mytnik and Naum Walter, the conductor Louis de Froment and Kogan's wife, Elizaveta Gilels (sister of the great pianist Emil Gilels).

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