Kogan
can be bad news for a critic. Staring at my pretty much blank
piece of paper after eighty minutes of beautiful violin playing – so
unforced, natural sounding, so perfect a conjunction of tone
and projection, so digitally immaculate – one wonders what
one can add, beyond the instruction to listen immediately
if one has not already done so.
Brahms-Kogan
generally spells the violin concerto. The Mytnik-accompanied
sonata recordings are less often encountered though still
not rare. It’s rather baffling that they didn’t record a
commercial studio cycle as the Third Sonata is derived from
a concert given in the Grand Hall of Moscow Conservatoire,
though you won’t find that in Archipel’s customarily non-existent
booklet information. You might be aware of a later Grand
Hall performance of the Sonata in G, which Melodiya put out
in their voluminous Kogan twofer collection in the dying
days of the LP.
The
Kogan-Mytnik was a real duo not a chauffeur and master arrangement.
Despite the fact that Mytnik is naturally not as well remembered
as his illustrious partner he makes for an assertive and
combative presence, all to the good for ensemble work. Their
collective expressive control is always impressive, Kogan’s
multi-faceted command of style and timbre proving intensely
moving in the finale of the First Sonata – as it often is
not.
The
tempo for the sonata in A is just right and the amabile is
perfectly conveyed. Kogan heightens feeling through the subtlest
use of portamento and colour: the intensification of vibrato
in which he engages in the finale is of an exalted kind,
and the lyrical beauty he finds is wondrous. The Op. 108
sonata does suffer from some problems. There’s a slight lack
of clarity and definition in the piano sound and the aura
generally
is somewhat scuffy; there are some coughs. The playing remains
majestic. It’s flowingly and longingly heartfelt, buoyant
rhythmically and with a real agitato when called for.
Brahms fully in the round. To complete the pleasure there
are four Hungarian Dances, the last of which however is hollowly
recorded.
There’s
a claimed date of 1955 for the First Sonata but this is surely
the 1959 Melodiya/Columbia/Angel of long renown. The discs
have some hiss but they seem to have been moderately well
dealt with, albeit greater restorative work could have been
carried out. As for the playing it remains worthy of the
highest respect and the greatest possible admiration.
Jonathan
Woolf
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Leonid Kogan
(violin) 
