Anatol Ugorski

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Anatol Ugorski (originally Russian Анатолий Зальманович Угорский , scientific transliteration Anatolij Zal'manovič Ugorskij ; born September 28, 1942 in Rubzowsk , Siberia ) is a Russian pianist who has lived in Germany since 1990 and has made international appearances.

Life

Anatol Ugorski was born as the fourth of five siblings. In 1945 the parents moved to Leningrad . There he was accepted into the special music school attached to the conservatory at the age of six, although he could only sing and play the xylophone . After graduating from school in 1960, he studied piano at the Leningrad Conservatory with Nadezhda Golubovskaya until 1965 . During his studies he already attracted attention with many premieres of works by Soviet composers. The USSR had him to thank for some premieres of works by controversial composers - Arnold Schönberg , Alban Berg , Olivier Messiaen and Pierre Boulez .

At a guest appearance by Pierre Boulez in Leningrad, which was arranged in a time of relative cultural openness before the Prague Spring and then took place in the autumn of 1968 (shortly after the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops ), his enthusiastic applause was interpreted as a political demonstration. He had to answer to a committee. Since he was considered politically unreliable due to his love for contemporary music, he was prevented from continuing his career and could only perform in front of school classes in the Soviet provinces for more than ten years.

Irene Dische comments: "In this complete artistic freedom he only played for himself." His few solo concerts soon became an insider tip. Ugorski said he gave his best Scarlatti concert in front of children in the industrial city of Asbestos . In 1982, the management of the Leningrad Conservatory appointed Ugorski to professor .

In the spring of 1990, his then 16-year-old daughter Dina Ugorskaja was severely threatened by the radical nationalist and anti-Semitic Pamjat movement. Thereupon the Ugorskis fled hastily and without proper papers to East Berlin . The family lived in a refugee shelter for almost two years. Asked for help by a Soviet conductor in September 1990 and overwhelmed by Ugorski's Diabelli Variations , Irene Dische Ugorski helped to record this Beethoven work with Deutsche Grammophon .

With her, the now fifty-year-old and soon naturalized pianist began an international career with spectacular concerts at the Conservatory of Milan and at the Vienna Festival . As a soloist or with leading orchestras such as WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne , Czech Philharmonic , Concertgebouw Orchestra , Orchester de Paris and Chicago Symphony Orchestra , he makes guest appearances all over the world and at the most important festivals.

Ugorski was professor for piano at the Detmold University of Music until 2007 . He is a juror at the ARD International Music Competition .

Recordings

Ugorski has published numerous piano works from the 19th and 20th centuries on CD. Among his most important recordings are the “Catalog d'Oiseaux” by Olivier Messiaen and Scriabin's Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Pierre Boulez. With this recording Ugorski was nominated for a Grammy in 2000. With his daughter Dina Ugorskaja he played "Zweiflügler" by Bach , Mozart and Shostakovich . In 2010 he recorded all of the Scriabin sonatas ( CAvi music ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ biography on allpianists.ru
  2. ↑ a b c d Irene Dische in the booklet accompanying the CD with Ugorski's Diabelli Variations (DG 435 615-2)
  3. ↑ Valery Soifer: Save Russia! Beat the Jews! In: Der Spiegel . No. 34 , 1987 ( online ).
personal data
SURNAME Ugorski, Anatol
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian pianist
DATE OF BIRTH September 28, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Rubtsovsk , Siberia