Natalia Gutman
Natalia Gutman came from a musical family. She was born in Kazan, Kazakhstan, at a time when the city was packed with the many Russian intelligentsia and artists who had been evacuated before the advance of Hitler's troops. Her family included a long line of musicians: Her grandfather, Anisim Berlin, was a violinist who had been taught by the great pedagogue Leopold Auer; her grandmother was also a violinist and studied not only with Auer but also with Joachim; and her stepfather, Roman Sapozhnikov, is a cellist and well-known in Russia for his studies in teaching repertoire for the instrument.
She overheard her stepfather's pupils take their lessons when she was a very small girl. When she received a small-size cello for her fifth birthday, she took to it right away. Her father initially taught her, but in a short time her progress was so rapid that she was accepted into the Gnessin Music School, one of the leading music institutions for youngsters in Russia. Her first teacher was Sergei Aslamazyan. After three years, she graduated to Galina Kosolupova, one of the Institute's finest teachers. After another year, Gutman went on to the Moscow Conservatory, but retained Kosolupova as her teacher for the entire five years, which she considers especially important in her development. After graduation, she had an additional four years of post-graduate work with the great cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. As she was finishing her schooling, she started making prestigious concert appearances and entered major competitions. She won the first prizes in Moscow's Tchaikovsky Competition and the Dvorák Competition in Prague.
For a considerable period of time, her concert appearances in the West were rare; she tended to stay home while her husband, the famous violinist Oleg Kagan, did more touring. In 1980, the two of them played the Brahms Double Concerto at the Edinburgh Festival with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Evgeny Svetlanov, which was her British debut.
Beginning with the end of the 1980s she stepped up her international appearances, and has regularly attended the Crystal Palace Cello festivals. In 1985 she was particularly praised for a London performance of Prokofiev's Sinfonia Concertante for cello and orchestra; Robert Henderson of the Daily Telegraph said that not even Rostropovich could have surpassed it.
Gutman has an interest in the modern repertoire, including the Lutoslawski concerto and music of Alfred Schnittke. She considers extensive, regular, and thorough practice sessions to be essentials and unfailingly repeats the standard scale exercises. She does this with concentration, learned of necessity when her three children were young. She and her husband frequently perform chamber music and were frequently joined by eminent pianist Sviatoslav Richter until his death. She finds chamber music to be the most rewarding aspect of her life as a cellist.
© TiVo
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Dvořák: Cello Concerto, Symphonic Variations & Symphony No. 7
Wolfgang Sawallisch, Philadelphia Orchestra, Natalia Gutman
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 4 Aug 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Cello Concerto Op. 129 - Brahms: Serenade No. 1
Claudio Abbado, Natalia Gutman
Classical - Released by Universal Music Italia srL. on 1 Jan 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich & Schnittke: Natalia Gutman Portrait Series, Vol. I
Classical - Released by Live Classics on 19 Mar 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Poulenc, Miaskovsky & Britten: Natalia Gutman Portrait Series, Vol. V
Chamber Music - Released by Live Classics on 29 Jul 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann & Schnittke: Cello Concertos
Natalia Gutman, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Kurt Masur
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Leningrad Cello Concertos
Mstislav Rostropovich, Natalia Gutman, Georgy Ginovker, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Northern Flowers on 3 Jan 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin & Rachmaninov: Natalia Gutman Portrait Series, Vol. IV
Chamber Music - Released by Live Classics on 10 Oct 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra No. 1 in C Major, Hob. VIIb/1 (Digitally Remastered)
Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Natalia Gutman
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 20 Aug 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Natalia Gutman Portrait Series, Vol. VI / VII
Chamber Music - Released by Live Classics on 21 May 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Saintsaëns, Britten & Prokofiev: Kagan Music Festival Kreuth
Chamber Music - Released by Live Classics on 12 Feb 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Oleg Kagan & Natalia Gutman, Vol. 1 (Live)
Oleg Kagan, Natalia Gutman, Alexander Lazariev, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by DOREMI on 5 Nov 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Boccherini, Vivaldi, Tartini: Cello Concertos
Natalia Gutman, Mikhail Terian, Moscow Conservatory Chamber Orchestra
Classical - Released by JSC Firma Melodiya on 1 Jan 1969
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Boccherini: Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra No. 2 in D Major (Digitally Remastered)
Moscow Conservatory Chamber Orchestra, Natalia Gutman
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 11 Apr 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvořák: Cello Concerto & Symphony No. 7
Wolfgang Sawallisch, Philadelphia Orchestra, Natalia Gutman
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, Brahms & Grieg: Kagan Music Festival Kreuth
Chamber Music - Released by Live Classics on 23 Aug 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arensky: Natalia Gutman Portrait Series, Vol. IX
Chamber Music - Released by Live Classics on 8 Feb 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Natalia Gutman Portrait Series, Vol. III
Chamber Music - Released by Live Classics on 15 Jun 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven & Mendelssohn: Portrait Natalia Gutman, Vol. I
Chamber Music - Released by Live Classics on 19 Mar 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Weber: Grand potpourri in D Major, Op. 20, J.64 (Digitally Remastered)
Latvian Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Tovijs Lifsics, Natalia Gutman
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on 23 Oct 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev & Brahms: Concertos for Cello and Orchestra (Live)
Classical - Released by JSC Firma Melodiya on 1 Jan 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schnittke: Sonata for Violoncello and Piano No. 1
Vassily Lobanov, Natalia Gutman
Classical - Released by SendClassic on 17 Aug 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo