Description

NIKOLAI GRAUDAN (LIEPĀJA, LATVIA, 5 SEPTEMBER, 1896 – MOSCOW, 9 AUGUST 1964)

 

 

 

 

On July 29, 1914, Nikolai Graudan, a native of Courland province, who graduated with a silver medal from the Libava (now the city of Liepāja in Latvia) gymnasium, submitted a request to the director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Alexander Glazunov, to admit him to the entrance exams for the Higher Courses. In the fall of 1914, he began to study in the class of Louis Abbiate, in 1917 he completed his studies and began teaching at the conservatory, but soon he left revolutionary Petrograd, first for Liepaja, and then for Germany. From 1926 to 1935, NiColaI Graudan played the first cello of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. He also performs as an ensemble player, mainly in a duet with his wife, pianist Ioanna Graudan – a graduate of the Kharkiv Musical and Dramatic Institute. Ensemble music will become the most important sphere of activity of the cellist even after emigration to USA. As a member of the festival quartet of the famous Aspen summer festival, he plays and records string and piano ensembles by Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Faure, and among his quartet partners – violinist  Szymon Goldberg, recent concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic (1930-1934), William Primrose – one of of the best viola players of his time, pianist Victor Babin – Muscovite, student of Artur Schnabel, and since 1961 – director of the Cleveland Institute of Music. Nicolai Graudan also plays in orchestras – the Metropolitan Opera, the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, and also teaches – at the Aspen Summer School, at master classes at the universities of California and Los Angeles. An obituary published in the “New York Times” reports the circumstances of the musician’s death. he died in Moscow, where he flew to meet his sister. For the only performance in the city of his youth, Nicolai Graudan came from London, where he lived for a short time before emigrating to the USA. On February 29, 1936, he performed Schumann’s concerto in the Bolshoi Hall with an orchestra conducted by Eugene Senkar.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

Beethoven / Schumann / Festival Quartet – Piano Quartets

Label: RCA Victor Red Seal – LM-2200, RCA Victor Red Seal – LM 2200

Format: Vinyl, LP, Mono, Rockaway Pressing

Country: US

Released: 1958

Genre: Classical

Style: Classical, Romantic

Piano Quartet In E-Flat, Op. 16

Composed By – Beethoven

A1 First Movement: Grave; Allegro, Ma Non Troppo

A2 Second Movement: Andante Cantabile

A3 Third Movement: Rondo: Allegro Ma Non Troppo

Piano Quartet In E-Flat, Op. 47

Composed By – Schumann

B1 First Movement: Sostenuto Assai; Allegro, Ma Non Troppo

B2 Second Movement: Scherzo: Molto Vivace

B3 Third Movement: Andante Cantabile

B4 Fourth Movement: Finale: Vivace

Copyright © – RCA

Copyright © – Radio Corporation Of America

Pressed By – RCA Records Pressing Plant, Rockaway

Artwork – Eugene Karlin

Cello – Nikolai Graudan

Engineer – John Crawford (2)

Ensemble – The Festival Quartet

Music Director – John Pfeiffer

Piano – Victor Babin

Viola – William Primrose

Violin – Szymon Goldberg

Catalog number LM-2200 on cover, LM 2200 on labels.

On front cover: © RCA Printed in U.S.A.

On back cover: © by Radio Corporation of America, 1958.

Stamped “R” in the runouts denotes a RCA Records Pressing Plant, Rockaway pressing.

Matrix / Runout (Side A label): (H2RP-7769)

Matrix / Runout (Side B label): (H2RP-7770)

Pressing Plant ID (Stamped in runouts): R

Matrix / Runout (Side A runout, stamped): H2 RP7769-5S A1 R

Matrix / Runout (Side B runout, stamped): H2 RP7770-2S Λ1 R