* En anglais uniquement
Oleg Kagan was one of the foremost Russian violinists from the latter half of the twentieth century. While he developed a reputation on his own, many know him for his collaborations with pianist
Sviatoslav Richter, as well as for his chamber music activity with a clutch of Soviet artists that included his first wife pianist
Elisabeth Leonskaja, second wife cellist
Natalia Gutman, pianist
Elisso Virssaladze, and violist
Yuri Bashmet. Virtuoso violinist
David Oistrakh was an ardent admirer of his pupil
Kagan, arranging for him to record all of
Mozart's concertos while serving as his conductor in the enterprise. Though
Kagan played much Russian music, including works by
Shostakovich and
Schnittke, he focused heavily, at least in the recording studio, on the Germanic sphere:
Mozart,
Beethoven,
Schubert,
Mendelssohn, and
Brahms. Many of his numerous recordings were reissued on the German label Live Classics, EMI, and Olympia.
Kagan was born in the Eastern Soviet city of Sakhalin on November 22, 1946. His father was a physician with a passion for music. Young
Oleg grew up in Riga (Latvia), studying first with Joachim Braun at the local conservatory, then with Boris Kuznetsov, who would eventually take him to Moscow for study.
Kagan won first prize at the 1965
Sibelius Competition and second prize at the 1969
Tchaikovsky. After Kuznetsov's death
Kagan immediately began studies with
David Oistrakh and soon found himself in a circle of friends that included
Sviatoslav Richter, with whom he would collaborate in numerous concerts. Between 1975 and 1983 they gave a series of acclaimed
Mozart sonata recitals, many recorded and later issued.
Throughout the 1970s and '80s
Kagan's reputation grew as he extended his repertory to include
Messiaen (Quartet for the End of Time),
Ravel (Duo Sonata for Violin and Cello), contemporary Soviet composer
Sofia Gubaidulina (Rejoice!), and works from the Second Viennese School.
As
Kagan seemed to be approaching the zenith of his career he became seriously ill in 1989. He had several surgeries, but struggled to remain active, touring Europe when he could and arranging festivals. Though his doctors at a hospital in Lübeck, Germany, declared him too sick to be released,
Kagan discharged himself to appear at his final festival, in Kreuth am Tegernsee, Bavaria. Shortly after giving two
Mozart concerts there, where he had to be helped on-stage, he died on July 15, 1990, not yet 44.