J.S.BACH - French Suites BWV 812-817 - Andrei Gavrilov, piano

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J.S.BACH - French Suites BWV 812-817 - Andrei Gavrilov, piano

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Gavrilov, son of Russian painter Vladimir Gavrilov, received his first piano lessons at age 2 from his mother Assanetta Eguiserian , who, herself a pianist, had studied with Heinrich Neuhaus. 1961 he was accepted at the Moscow Central Music School and became a student of Tatyana Kestner, who had studied with Alexander Goldenweiser. He completed his studies with another Neuhaus-disciple, Lev Naumov, at the Moscow Conservatory. Only 18 years of age and after one semester at the conservatory he won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1974 and rose to international fame when he substituted for Sviatoslav Richter at the Salzburg festival the same year, of whom Gavrilov was a protegé since his youth. Until 1979 Gavrilov concertized in all major music centres around the world with up to 90 concerts a year and besides also continued his studies at the university. 1979, at the first peak of Gavrilov's career, Herbert von Karajan, who had heard him with the First Tchaikovsky-concerto in Berlin, offered recordings of all Rachmaninoff-concertos, despite the fact that Karajan only rarely conducted them. In December 1979 recordings were scheduled in Berlin with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for the 2nd concerto, but Gavrilov did not appear for the rehearsals. It was discovered that due to Gavrilov's critical remarks about the Soviet Regime, the head of the KGB and later General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Yuri Andropov with approval by Leonid Brezhnev had seized Gavrilov's passport and the flight ticket and cut his telephone line. Later Gavrilov was put under house arrest, at times he was committed to psychiatric wards. Militia people guarding Gavrilov showed him an official order at one time where it was stated that a fatal accident would not be unwelcome. Only through Mikhail Gorbachev's intervention this nightmarish time ended in 1984 and Gavrilov received a "free passport", so that he could concertize again in the West without having to obtain political asylum. In the following years he lived in London and from 1989 in Bad Camberg near Wiesbaden, Germany and also assumed German citizenship. 1993 he pulled out of the cultural scene, cancelled concerts and did not make any further studio recordings from that time. According to an interview with The Guardian he saw himself at the peak of his career, materially well situated, but not as a free, original and idealistic artist apart from the music industry. The planned 2-year sabbatical grew to 8 years eventually. At this time he studied the intentions of the composers in their works, religious and philosophical questions, lived half a year on the Fiji islands and reworked his piano technique fundamentally. In 2001 he moved to Lucerne, Switzerland and resumed concertizing in the 2001/2 season. Since August 2008 he is living with his second wife and their son in the Kanton Zurich. Gavrilov is a pianist of outstanding virtuosity and power. In 1974 Melodiya recorded the 1st Tchaikovsky-concerto at the pricewinner concert of the Tchaikovsky competition together with a live solo recital. 1976 a studio recording of the 3rd Rachmaninoff concerto followed. From 1977 to 1989 he worked exclusively for EMI. From that time dates the legendary recording of the Chopin-Etudes and many other works, notably from Chopin, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff and J.S. Bach. From 1991 to 1993 he recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, where Gavrilov, who among new works keeps his core repertoire, also duplicated some works already recorded for EMI. A number of projects with many Gavrilov-premieres was no more realized, Bach's English Suites, the complete Beethoven piano concerti, the Choral Fantasie and the Diabelli Variations, as well as more vague plans with works by Liszt (Etudes d'execution transcendante, Paganini-Etudes), Ravels complete works for piano solo and with orchestra, the piano concertos of Grieg und Schumann and Benjamin Brittens Golden Vanity. In 2009 a number of new DVD-recordings is planned for release.

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