Sviatoslav Knushevitsky

{{Short description|Soviet-Russian classical cellist (1908–1963)}}

Sviatoslav Nikolayevich Knushevitsky (also seen as Knushevitzky; {{OldStyleDate|6 January 1908||24 December 1907}}{{spaced ndash}}19 February 1963) was a Soviet-Russian classical cellist. He was particularly noted for his partnership with the violinist David Oistrakh and the pianist Lev Oborin in a renowned piano trio from 1940 until his death. After Mstislav Rostropovich and Daniil Shafran, he is spoken of as one of the pre-eminent Russian cellists of the 20th century.

Biography

Sviatoslav Knushevitsky was born at Petrovsk, Saratov Oblast, on {{OldStyleDate|6 January 1908||24 December 1907}}. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Semyon Kozolupov,Semyon Kozolupov 1884–1961; uncle and teacher of Mstislav Rostropovich; pupil of Aleksandr Verzhbilovich, a friend and contemporary of Tchaikovsky{{Cite web |url=http://www.melody.su/eng/work/catalog/classic/548 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110185204/http://www.melody.su/eng/work/catalog/classic/548|url-status=dead |title=Catalogue // Classic // Svyatoslav Knushevitsky M.Reger, R.Strauss, J.S.Bach, A.Wilhelmi, M.T. von Paradies, G.Pekker, F.Chopin, A.Glazunov, F.Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, C.Saint-Saens |archivedate=10 January 2011}}{{cite book |author=Elizabeth Wilson |title=Jacqueline Du Pré: Her Life, Her Music, Her Legend |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G0wF757F-3UC&pg=PA178 |year=1999 |publisher=Arcade Publishing |isbn=978-1-55970-490-8 |page=178}} graduating with a gold medal. He joined the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra in 1929, remaining their principal cellist until 1943.{{Cite web |url=http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Brilliant+Classics/8924 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151010100905/http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Brilliant%2BClassics/8924 |url-status=dead |title=Sviatoslav Knushevitsky Edition Brilliant Classics: 8924 |work=Presto Classical |archivedate=10 October 2015}}

In 1933 Knushevitsky won First Prize at the All-Union Music Competition.{{cite web |title=Главная |url=https://www.mosconsv.ru/ru/default.aspx |website=www.mosconsv.ru |access-date=17 November 2023 |language=ru}} In 1940 he joined in partnership with the violinist David Oistrakh and the pianist Lev Oborin in a renowned piano trio, often referred to as the Oistrakh Trio, which concertised and recorded a great deal in many countries. He also joined a string quartet with Oistrakh, Pyotr Bondarenko and Mikhail Terian,{{Cite web |url=https://www.naxos.com/person/David_Oistrakh/12781.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301211939/http://www.naxos.com/person/David_Oistrakh/12781.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 March 2012 |title=Oistrakh, David- Bio, Albums, Pictures – Naxos Classical Music. |website=www.naxos.com}} known as the Beethoven Quartet.{{Cite web |url=https://persona.rin.ru/eng/view/f/0/35764/knushevitsky-svetoslav |title=Knushevitsky Svetoslav, photo, biography |website=persona.rin.ru}} His sonata performances with Oistrakh were considered the equal in their day of the later duo of Sviatoslav Richter and Mstislav Rostropovich.

In 1941 Knushevitsky joined the staff of the Moscow Conservatory, becoming a professor in 1950. From 1954 to 1959 he was chair of cello and double bass studies. His pupils there included the cellists Stefan Popov, Mikhail Khomitser and Yevgeny Altman, and the double bassist Rodion Azarkhin.{{cite web |title=Art of Rodion Azarkhin |url=http://www.monova.org/details/3423636/Art+of+Rodion+Azarkhin+double-bass.%09.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231117011906/http://www.monova.org/details/3423636/Art+of+Rodion+Azarkhin+double-bass..html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 November 2023 |website=www.monova.org |date= |access-date=}}

Cello concertos were written for him by:

Nikolai Myaskovsky (Cello Concerto in C minor, 1944; premiered Moscow, 17 March 1945; the first recording, however, was made by Rostropovich in 1956[http://home.wanadoo.nl/vanrijen/more-great-performers.htm Soviet Composers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091218185416/http://home.wanadoo.nl/vanrijen/more-great-performers.htm |date=18 December 2009 }})
Aram Khachaturian (Cello Concerto in E minor, 1946; premiered Moscow, 30 October 1946; he had also written his Piano Concerto in D-flat in 1936 for Lev Oborin, and his Violin Concerto in D minor in 1940 for David Oistrakh), and
Reinhold Glière (Cello Concerto in D minor, Op. 87, 1946).

Other composers who wrote for him were Sergei Vasilenko and Alexander Goedicke. His repertoire included mainstream works from concertos and chamber works through to smaller pieces and arrangements, along with contemporary and rarer works such as the Richard Strauss Cello Sonata and the Solo Cello Suites of Max Reger.

Sviatoslav Knushevitsky was an alcoholic, which, along with his frenetic lifestyle, contributed to his early death at the age of 55 in 1963, in Moscow.

Family

Sviatoslav Knushevitsky's brother Victor (1906–1974) was a violinist and from 1936 the conductor of a renowned Russian jazz ensemble, the State Jazz Orchestra of the USSR.

His wife Natalia Shpiller (1909–1995) was a soprano soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre for over 30 years. She was a favourite of Joseph Stalin and often sang at the Kremlin.{{cite news |title=Natalia Shpiller: Songs for Stalin |author=McMillan, Arnold |work=The Guardian |date=21 October 1995|page= 32}} She taught at the Gnessin Institute 1950–1995.{{cite encyclopedia |title=ШПИ́ЛЛЕР (en: Natalia Shpiller) |encyclopedia=Great Russian Encyclopedia |url=https://bigenc.ru/music/text/4945583 |access-date=July 10, 2021 |language=Russian}}

Awards and honors

Order of the Red Banner of Labour (December 28, 1946)
Stalin Prize, 3rd class (1950)
Medal "For Labour Valour" (July 9, 1954)
Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR (1956)

Recordings

Sviatoslav Knushevitsky's many recordings include:

Beethoven: Triple Concerto in C; Oborin, Oistrakh, Knushevitsky, with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Sir Malcolm Sargent
Beethoven: Archduke Trio{{Cite web |url=https://www.arkivmusic.com/products/beethovenbrahamsschubert-248932 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726141121/https://www.arkivmusic.com/products/beethovenbrahamsschubert-248932 |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 July 2021 |title=BEETHOVEN: ARCHDUKE TRIO; SCH |website=ArkivMusic}}
Borodin: String Sextet in D minor
Brahms: Double Concerto, with Oistrakh and the USSR Symphony Orchestra under Karl Eliasberg{{Cite web|url=http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=142925|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120723123906/http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=142925|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 July 2012|title=ArkivMusik}}
Chopin: Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 8
Dvořák: Piano Trio No. 4, Dumky Trio, Op. 90 and Trio in F minor, Op. 65{{Cite web |url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/Sept04/Dvorak_trios.htm |title=Dvorak Trios PREISER 90593 [JW]: Classical CD Reviews- September 2004 MusicWeb(UK) |website=www.musicweb-international.com |access-date=21 November 2023}}
Khachaturian: Cello Concerto in E minor (the premiere performance; and a later one conducted by Alexander Gauk){{Cite web |url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2008/June08/Gauk_8866.htm |title=Alexander Gauk Archives Brilliant 8866 [RB]: Classical CD Reviews – June 2008 MusicWeb-International |website=www.musicweb-international.com}}
Myaskovsky: Cello Sonata No. 1 in D, Op. 12{{Cite web |author=Jonathan Woolf |url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/nov02/Miaskovsky_survey.htm |title=Classical Music Reviews – November 2002 MusicWeb-International |website=www.musicweb-international.com |access-date=18 November 2023}}
Popper: Cello Concerto in C
Rachmaninoff: Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 19
Ravel: Piano Trio in A minor
Rimsky-Korsakov: Piano Trio in C (1897, incomplete; completed 1939 by Maximilian Steinberg; world premiere recording){{Cite web |url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev//2004/Sept04/rimsky_trio.htm |title=RIMSKY-KORSAKOV, SMETANA Trios PREISER 90595 [JW]: Classical CD Reviews- September 2004 MusicWeb(UK) |website=www.musicweb-international.com}}
Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33
Schubert: Octet in F major, D. 803
Schubert: Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat
Schubert: Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat{{Cite web |url=https://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/6777096/a/schubert:&frm=www.cduniverse.com |title=Chopin / Knushevitzky / D Oistrakh / Schubert – Famous Oistrakh Trio CD Album |website=www.cduniverse.com |access-date=21 November 2023}}
Schumann: Piano Trio No. 2 in F, Op. 80
Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67{{Cite web |url=http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=39668 |title=ArkivMusik}}
Smetana: Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 15{{Cite web |url=http://www.hbdirect.com/album_detail.php?pid=1030559 |title=HB Direct |website=www.hbdirect.com}}{{deadlink|date=November 2023}}
Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33 (conducted by Alexander Gauk)
Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50{{Cite web |url=http://www.hbdirect.com/browse_classical.php?v%5B0%5D=performer&performer=K&do=specific_performer&specific_performer=Knushevitzky%2C+Sviatoslav |title=HB Direct |website=www.hbdirect.com}}
Tchaikovsky: String Sextet in D minor, Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70, with Elizabeth Gilels (violin), Rudolf Barshai and Genrikh Talalyan (violas), and Mstislav Rostropovich (cello).{{Cite web |url=http://tchaikovsky-research.net/en/news/experience.html |title=Tchaikovsky Research : BBC Tchaikovsky Experience |website=tchaikovsky-research.net}}

References

Sources

[https://web.archive.org/web/20151010100905/http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Brilliant%2BClassics/8924 Presto Classical]

Category:1908 births

Category:1963 deaths

Category:Soviet cellists

Category:People from Petrovsk

Category:Academic staff of Moscow Conservatory

Category:Moscow Conservatory alumni

Category:Recipients of the Stalin Prize

Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour

Category:Russian classical cellists

Category:Russian music educators

Category:Soviet classical cellists

Category:Soviet music educators

Category:Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery