Leonid Kogan - Cantabile, Paganini

Great reputation and everybody loved him are things that people in the KGB didn't care a fuck, they were powerful and rich, that's true but at the moment of politics they were puppets as everyone else.

how do you know that kogan was forced by the KGB to do things he didn't want to?. Was kogan a spy or something? i mean that's like saying that the CIA forced hirally hann to play for them or something crazy like that. sechenry6 is right, you are remarkably wrong informed

Wow, well, appart from not knowing things that are a public secret you obviously ignore the fact that soviet musicians were used as postmans in soviet times to bring important documents to russians spies all over the world during the cold war and they were forced to collaborate with the KGB for this. It is quite obvious you don't know a shit about this. Go at least watch the documentary : David Oistrakh, artist of the people ? To understand a little bit what am I talking about.

And by the way, if you're a violinist and if you've studied in Europe is not difficult to find people which studied with Kogan in Moscow , not at all, ex-soviet teachers are everywhere.

KGB???? maybe he was just a great violinist, maybe he was one of the greatest. What the heck would the KGB have to do with it.That is like saying the KGB made fish swim.

I wouldn't say that it was "practice or die". It was more like "we only show the best, and if you're subpar then you will fade into obscurity".

Yes, I agree - I didn't formulate it very well.

Oistrakh had the artistic humility to admit that Kogan was superior. (this is not me saying this, this is OISTRAKH)

Where did you get that information ?!

passionate! :)