Gregor Piatigorsky

Gregor Piatigorsky took up the cello at seven and entered the Moscow Conservatory two years later, where Alfred von Glehn guided his studies. By 1919 he had become a member of the Lenin Quartet and principal cellist of the Bol'shoy Theater Orchestra. He departed the Soviet Union in 1921, traveling through Warsaw to Leipzig for further lessons with Julius Klengel. Furtwängler named him principal cellist of the Berlin Philharmonic in 1924, an appointment that brought him into regular contact with Schnabel and Flesch; together the three musicians formed a trio. Four years afterward Piatigorsky resigned his post to pursue a solo career that opened with a triumphant New York debut in 1929. Chamber music remained central to his activities: in 1930 he established a trio with Horowitz and Milstein, and in 1949 he joined Heifetz and Rubinstein in another ensemble. With Heifetz he launched a Los Angeles chamber series in 1961 whose recordings endure as benchmark performances. Over many seasons he directed the chamber program at Tanglewood, helped establish the Meadowmount School, succeeded Emanuel Feuermann on the Curtis Institute faculty, and joined the University of Southern California in 1962. His teaching influence persists through distinguished pupils such as Erling Blöndal Bengtsson, Mischa Maisky, and Nathaniel Rosen. Piatigorsky’s playing combined Romantic expressiveness with virtuosic flair, qualities that shone most brightly in the major concertos of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He gave the first performances of works by Walton, Hindemith, and Castelnuovo-Tedesco, issued original compositions and transcriptions for cello, and worked with Stravinsky on the Suite Italienne. Revered and decorated throughout his life, he ranks among the defining musicians of his era.