Though perhaps not what one might consider a great composer, Ossip Gabrilowitsch was one of the supreme pianists of the Golden Age.
He had a dream education attending the St, Petersburg Conservatory where he studied piano, composition and conducting. His teachers included Anton Rubinstein, Nikolai Medtner, Alexander Glazunov, and Anatoly Lyadov. And as if working under the tutelage of pianistic giants like Rubinstein and Medtner were not enough, he went to Vienna after graduating from the conservatory to study with the greatest pupil of Carl Czerny, Theodor Leschetizky.
Gabrilowitsch came to America after World War One where, in addition to maintaining a career as a concert pianist, he became the first conductor of the newly established Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
As we have come to expect of students of Anton Rubinstein, his style is clean and clear with a strong sense of the underlying rhythm. His technique is impeccable and his playing effortless. Would that he had recorded more, great pianist that he was.
Gabrilowitsch Caprice Op.3 Recorded in 1925
Gabrilowitsch Mélodie in E minor, Op.8 N°1
Bach/Saint-Saens Bouree from Violin Partita in B minor Recorded in 1925
Delibes Passepied from "Le Roi s'Amuse" Grainger Shepherd's Hey Recorded in 1925
Moszkowski En Automne Op.36 N°4 Recorded in 1924
Schumann Novelette N°9 from Bunte Blatter Op.99 Recorded in 1924
Ossip Gabrilowitsch recorded Robert Schumann's Piano Quintet in E flat Major, Opus 44 in the 1920s with the world famous Flonzaley Quartet. The quintet is scored for piano and traditional string quartet (two violins, viola and cello). Here is the first movement from that recording. This is ensemble playing at its best.
He also performed two piano works to great acclaim with Harold Bauer, the wonderful English pianist. It is impossible to tell which one is playing what, but these are examples of the finest duo piano playing I have ever heard.
Schumann Piano Quintet in E flat Major Op 44 i Allegro Brillante
Schuett Rococo-Minuet for two pianos with Harold Bauer Recorded in 1928
Arensky Waltz from Suite No 1 Op 15 for Two Pianos with Harold Bauer Recorded in 1929
