View source for Leonid Kogan

{{Short description|Soviet violinist (1924–1982)}}
{{family name hatnote|Borisovich|Kogan|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{More footnotes|date=April 2009}}
{{Infobox person
| name              = Leonid Kogan
| image             = Orig-1960-leonid-kogan-soviet-violinist-publicity 1 89d4f1d958a13e8e83da032a22523dab.jpg
| caption           = Leonid Kogan in 1960
| birth_name        = Leonid Borisovich Kogan
| birth_date        = 14 November 1924
| birth_place       = [[Dnipro|Yekaterinoslav]], [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian SSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1982|12|17|1924|11|14|df=yes}}
| death_place       = [[Mytishchi]], [[Moscow Oblast]], [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
| occupation        = Violinist
}}

'''Leonid Borisovich Kogan''' ({{langx|ru|Леонид Борисович Коган}}; {{langx|uk|Леонід Борисович Коган}}; 14 November 1924 – 17 December 1982)<ref>[http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/15259 Boris Schwarz and Margaret Campbell. "Kogan, Leonid." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed November 14, 2013]</ref> was a preeminent Soviet violinist during the 20th century. Many consider him to be among the greatest violinists of the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/icons-leonid-kogan|title=Icons – Leonid Kogan|last=Potter|first=Tully|date=2016-03-21|website=www.gramophone.co.uk|access-date=2017-01-16}}</ref> In particular, he is considered to have been one of the greatest representatives of the Soviet School of violin playing.

==Life and career==
Kogan was born to a Jewish family<ref>Staff. [https://web.archive.org/web/20071001001546/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,904644,00.html "The World: The Harsh Plight of the Soviet Jews"], ''[[Time (magazine)]]'', January 25, 1971. Accessed August 31, 2011. "Bolshoi Prima Ballerina Maya Plisetskaya and perhaps 90% of the Bolshoi Orchestra are Jewish, as are Violinists Leonid Kogan and David Oistrakh and Pianist Emil Gilels."</ref> in Yekaterinoslav (now [[Dnipro]]), the son of a photographer. After he showed an early interest and ability for violin playing, his family moved to [[Moscow]], where he was able to further his studies. From age ten he studied there with the noted violin pedagogue [[Abram Yampolsky]]. In 1934, [[Jascha Heifetz]] played concerts in Moscow. "I attended every one," Kogan later said, "and can remember until now every note he played. He was the ideal artist for me." When Kogan was 12, [[Jacques Thibaud]] was in Moscow and heard him play. The French virtuoso predicted a great future for Kogan.

Kogan studied at the Central Music School in Moscow (1934–43), then at the [[Moscow Conservatory]] (1943–48), where he studied as a postgraduate (1948–51).

At the age of 17, and while still a student, he performed throughout the [[Soviet Union]]. He was co-winner of the first prize at the World Youth Festival in [[Prague]]. In 1951, Kogan won first prize at the [[Queen Elisabeth Competition]] in [[Brussels]] with a dazzling performance of [[Niccolò Paganini|Paganini]]'s first concerto that included an outstanding interpretation of [[Émile Sauret|Sauret]]'s cadenza.

His official debut was in 1941, playing the [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]] [[Violin Concerto (Brahms)|Concerto]] with the [[Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra]] in the Great Hall of the [[Moscow Conservatory]].

His international solo tours took him to [[Paris]] and [[London]] in 1955, and then [[South America]] and the United States in the following years. Kogan had a repertoire of over 18 concerti and a number of concerti by modern composers were dedicated to him.

In 1952, Kogan began teaching at the Moscow Conservatory, and in 1980 he was invited to teach at the [[Accademia Musicale Chigiana]] in [[Siena]], Italy.
[[File:Leonid kogan tomb.jpg|thumb|The tomb of Leonid Kogan]]
Kogan, a brilliant and compelling violinist who excelled in both the concerto repertoire and in chamber music, shunned publicity. His career was always overshadowed by that of [[David Oistrakh]], who was strongly promoted by the Soviet authorities. Like Oistrakh, Kogan made a few studio recordings in the West, mostly for EMI. The bulk of his recordings were made in the Soviet Union, however, and their availability outside that country was very rare until the release of the Brilliant box set "Historic Russian Archives Leonid Kogan Edition" <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/b/brl93030a.php|title=Classical Net Review – Historic Russian Archives – Leonid Kogan|website=Classical Net|access-date=2019-07-01}}</ref>

Kogan was made a [[People's Artist of the USSR]] in 1964, and received the [[Lenin Prize]] in 1965.

Kogan married [[Elizabeth Gilels]] (sister of pianist [[Emil Gilels]]), also a concert violinist. His son, [[Pavel Kogan (conductor)|Pavel Kogan]] (b. 1952) became a famous violinist and [[Conducting|conductor]]. His daughter, [[Nina Kogan (pianist)|Nina Kogan]] (b. 1954), is a concert pianist and became the accompanist and sonata partner of her father at an early age.

Kogan died of a heart attack in the city of [[Mytishchi]], while travelling by train between [[Moscow]] and [[Yaroslavl]] to a concert he was to perform with his son. Two days before, he had played the [[Violin Concerto (Beethoven)|Beethoven Violin Concerto]] in Vienna. He was buried in [[Novodevichy Cemetery]].

Many speculate that Kogan played on all [[Violin construction and mechanics#Strings|steel strings]], though there is not an outright confirmation. While his close associates indicate he played on gut strings except for a steel 'e' string, it is most likely that he used different combinations over the course of his career.

==Instruments==
Kogan used two [[Guarneri]] del Gesù violins: the 1726 ex-Colin and the 1733 ex-Burmester. He used French bows by [[Dominique Peccatte]]. Kogan never actually owned these instruments; they were provided on loan from the Soviet government. Today they are worth more than US$4 million.{{CN|date=November 2025}}

==Recordings==
Kogan formed a trio with pianist [[Emil Gilels]] and cellist [[Mstislav Rostropovich]]. Their recordings include [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s ''[[Piano Trio, Op. 97 (Beethoven)|Archduke Trio]]'', the [[Robert Schumann|Schumann]] D minor, the [[Piano Trio (Tchaikovsky)|Tchaikovsky]], the [[Camille Saint-Saëns|Saint-Saëns]], the [[Horn Trio (Brahms)|Horn Trio]] by [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]] with Yakov Shapiro (horn), and the [[Gabriel Fauré|Fauré]] C minor Quartet with [[Rudolf Barshai]] (viola). Kogan later formed another trio with conductor [[Yevgeny Svetlanov]] (piano) and {{ill|Fyodor Luzanov|ru|Лузанов, Фёдор Петрович}} (cello). Kogan was the first Soviet violinist to play and record [[Alban Berg|Berg]]'s [[Violin Concerto (Berg)|Violin Concerto]]. He also made a famous recording of [[Aram Khachaturian|Khachaturian]]'s Violin Concerto with [[Pierre Monteux]] and the [[Boston Symphony Orchestra]] for RCA Victor (his American debut recording), a version still considered the most exciting reading of the work{{whom|date=March 2022}}. Kogan recorded violin concerti by other [[Music of the Soviet Union|Soviet composers]], including the two by [[Tikhon Khrennikov]]. With Karl Richter, Kogan recorded J. S. Bach's six Violin Sonatas in 1972.

There are more than 30 albums of his performances on the Arlecchino label. In 2006, [[EMI Records|EMI]] France issued a 4-CD box set ("Les Introuvables de Leonid Kogan") containing his concerto recordings for that label, all [[Remaster#Music|digitally remastered]] the same year.

The EMI Kogan recordings from 1950s and 1960s used to belong to [[Columbia Graphophone Company|Columbia]], who released about five stereo recordings of Kogan in the [[Phonograph record|vinyl record]] period: Beethoven ''Violin Concerto'' (SAX 2386), Brahms ''Violin Concerto'' (SAX 2307), Tchaikovsky ''Violin Concerto'' (SAX 2323), Lalo ''Symphonie espagnole'' (SAX 2329) and Leclair/Telemann/Ysaye ''Sonatas for duo Violins'' (SAX 2531). Nowadays, these Kogan records are among the most sought-after records for classical vinyl collectors. For example, the price of the Beethoven ''Violin Concerto'' (SAX2386) record soars up to 10,000 dollars in eBay auctions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.popsike.com/LEONID-KOGAN-SILVESTRI-Beethoven-ORIG-bs-SAX-2386-UK1960-LP-MINT/251264036946.html|title=popsike.com – LEONID KOGAN & SILVESTRI Beethoven ORIG b/s SAX 2386 UK-1960 LP MINT – auction details|website=www.popsike.com}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Pavel Kogan (conductor)|Pavel Kogan]]
* [[Dmitri Kogan]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*Roth, Henry (1997). ''Violin Virtuosos: From Paganini to the 21st Century''. Los Angeles, CA: California Classics Books. {{ISBN|1-879395-15-0}}
*В сб.: Музыкальное исполнительство, в. 6, М., 1970, с. 162—193; – Гринберг М., Пронин В., В классе П. С. Столярского
*«Советская музыка», 1972, № 3. – Ойстрах Д., Фурер С., Мордкович Л., О нашем учителе. (К столетию П. С. Столярского)
*Elena Fedorovich, Ekaterinburg, 2007
*Leonid Kogan Bibliography – M. Zazovsky, L. K. (Moscow, 1956).
*"Leonid Borisovich Kogan." BAKER'S BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF MUSICIANS, Centennial Edition. Nicolas Slonimsky, Editor Emeritus. Schirmer, 2001.

==External links==
{{commons category-inline}}
*{{YouTube|Ovnky2hwgWM|Kogan plays Paganini}}
*{{YouTube|EVvdBF3SZ1k|Kogan plays Khachaturian}}
*{{YouTube|hsie6Kddzqo|Shostakovich – prelude}}{{Dead link|date=May 2018}}
*{{YouTube|b0Wlx8OeFlo|Kogan plays Shostakovich cadenza and 3rd movement}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kogan, Leonid}}
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Russian male musicians]]
[[Category:Musicians from Dnipro]]
[[Category:Communist Party of the Soviet Union members]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Moscow Conservatory]]
[[Category:Moscow Conservatory alumni]]
[[Category:Honored Artists of the RSFSR]]
[[Category:People's Artists of the RSFSR]]
[[Category:People's Artists of the USSR]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Lenin Prize]]
[[Category:Prize-winners of the Queen Elisabeth Competition]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour]]
[[Category:Male classical violinists]]
[[Category:Jewish classical violinists]]
[[Category:Russian classical violinists]]
[[Category:Russian Jews]]
[[Category:Russian music educators]]
[[Category:Soviet classical violinists]]
[[Category:Soviet Jews]]
[[Category:Soviet music educators]]
[[Category:Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Accademia Musicale Chigiana]]