Leonid Kogan: Interpretations

When Leonid Kogan made his first appearance in Paris 1955, the Public Palais de Chaillot went wild and the critics were ecstatic. He played three concertos with orchestra-Mozart No. 3, Brahms and Paganini No. 1. These three concertos remained his favorites, but he continued to expanded his repertoire. After winning the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Concours in Bruxelles in 1951, Leonid Kogan took his place in the forefront of the Russian firmament of violin virtuosi. Amongst violin connoisseurs around the world, the name Kogan came to mean breathtaking playing.

In this historic Russian production narrated by Leonid Kogan and Erick Friedman, Kogan plays scintillating performances of Tchaikovsky's Melodie and Valse Scherzo, Glazunov's 'Entracte' from his ballet Raymonda, Brahms' 'Scherzo' movement from a sonata raising Paganini variations (a work originally printed but set down from memory after a Paganini concert by a student!) and a work written for and made famous by Jascha Heifetz, the fantasy arrangement for violin and orchestra by Franz Waxman of Bizet's Carmen. This insightful DVD is truly a memorable account of a great violinist and a must-have for all music lovers.