{"product_id":"leonid-kogan-the-unreleased-german-recordings-vol-i-sapphire-edition","title":"LEONID KOGAN - THE UNRELEASED GERMAN RECORDINGS VOL. I - SAPPHIRE EDITION®","description":"\u003cp\u003e|STARTTITLEGOLD| 500 Copies |ENDTITLEGOLD|\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSapphire Edition®\u003c\/strong\u003e pushes the boundaries of audio media.\u003cbr\u003eIt represents the culmination of our latest innovations in restoration and manufacturing processes — without any constraints or compromises — thus offering \u003cstrong\u003ean unparalleled musical experience\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe Mask and the Flame\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nLeonid Kogan was born on 14 November 1924 in Ekaterinoslav, now Dnipro, Ukraine, into a Jewish family. His father was a professional photographer and amateur violinist. However, Kogan was to say later, “I took up the violin entirely by chance.” As a child, he kept his instrument constantly by his side, and he would lay it at his bedside at night. In 1934, when Leonid was nine years old, the Kogan family moved to Moscow so that he could enrol at the Central School of Music in the class of Abram Yampolsky. The bond between Kogan and his new teacher was so strong that Abram took the young boy under his wing, even into his home, and found him a violin. Abram Yampolsky remained his teacher at the Moscow Conservatory and continued to offer him guidance until his death, working with him for eighteen years altogether.\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nIn 1941, Leonid Kogan made his debut with Brahms’s Concerto. This was followed by a host of concerts throughout war-torn Soviet Union — in Leningrad, Kiev, Odessa, Baku, and as far afield as Ulaanbaatar. In 1949, in the small hall of the Moscow Conservatory, he made history as the first violinist to perform all twenty-four of Paganini’s Caprices in one evening. With Paganini’s First Concerto, he won the 1951 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels — a veritable triumph. It was an event that catapulted him onto the stages of the world.\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThe original recordings that The Lost Recordings unearthed from the archives of the former East German radio station date from November 1953, just two years after this achievement. The only exception is Vivaldi’s Concerto in G minor, which opens this album. Superbly recorded, live, on 8 October 1968 at the Kongresshalle in Leipzig, with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester under the baton of Herbert Kegel, this previously unreleased recording of the concerto predates the version of Rudolf Barshai conducting the Moscow Chamber Orchestra by three years. Mozart’s Concerto KV 216 is part of a previously unreleased 1953 recording made in Berlin during a concert conducted by Hermann Abendroth — the earliest known performance by Kogan of this work, and certainly one of the most sincere and vital.\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThe second part of this album features some true musical gems, unseen and unheard since 1953. Astonishingly well recorded for the time, Kogan’s playing on these perfectly preserved studio tapes, with its purity of tone, the refinement of the bowing, the quality of the legato and the elegance of the vibrato, immediately pierces the listener’s soul. Such refined nuance, such total mastery immediately bring to mind only one other violinist: Jascha Heifetz. Heifetz toured the Soviet Union only once, in 1934, when he gave six concerts, all of which Kogan, then aged nine, attended. “I attended all his concerts, and I still remember every single note he played. For me, he was the ideal artist,” he said later. The first part of these studio recordings of short pieces, with Andrei Mytnik on the piano, rings out as Kogan’s tribute to his idol — right up to the Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, which Heifetz transcribed for violin in 1930, though he never went on to record it.\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThere is no doubt that this first volume of recordings, which remained unreleased for over seventy years, is invaluable. When Kogan played, he seemed to be wearing an iron mask, but his multi-hued bow and creative soul burned forcefully. We can only share the feeling of Marc Chagall, whose portrait hung in the violinist’s studio, when he wrote, “Dear Kogan, your violin and your music are so often present in my paintings.”\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e|STARTGOLD|Leonid Kogan, violin\u003cbr\u003eAndrei Mytnik, piano\u003cbr\u003eRundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Herbert Kegel (Vivaldi)\u003cbr\u003eRundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Hermann Abendroth (Mozart)|ENDGOLD|\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSTEREO ℗ 1968 DRA, MONO ℗ 1953 DRA\u003cbr\u003eVivaldi: recorded October 8, 1968, Kongresshalle, Leipzig\u003cbr\u003eBach: recorded October 15, 1968, Metropoltheater, Berlin\u003cbr\u003eMozart: recorded November 11, 1953, place unknown\u003cbr\u003eRecord 2: recorded November 15, 24 and 26, 1953, Funkhaus Nalepastraße, Kultursaal, Berlin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRestored by © 2026 THE LOST RECORDINGS from the original analog tapes\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"subdescription\"\u003eRef.: TLR-2603071VS\u003cbr\u003e33rpm Lacquer-cuts: Marie Pieprzownik\u003cbr\u003e200g Double Ultimate Record®\u003cbr\u003eLimited edition: 500 copies\u003cbr\u003eDeluxe Boxset\u003cbr\u003ePhoenix Pressings\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"tracklist_indications_single_product\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e*A 16-bit album download card is included with the vinyl.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Lost Recordings","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54916985684314,"sku":"TLR-2603071VS","price":118.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0422\/4211\/3698\/files\/01_Face.jpg?v=1791445396","url":"https:\/\/thelostrecordings.store\/en\/products\/leonid-kogan-the-unreleased-german-recordings-vol-i-sapphire-edition","provider":"The Lost Recordings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}