Master Class with Leonid Gorokhov

It doesn’t sound like Tchaikovsky composed his Pezzo Capriccioso, Op. 62 for cello and orchestra in just one week, but it nevertheless is true! This piece came to fruition in August of 1887. Despite its title, the piece is written in B minor and has a dark, sombre character. This choice was a reflection of Tchaikovsky’s grief over his friend Nikolai Kondratiev, who was gravely ill. By blending fleeting fast passages with a short shift to the major key, the piece takes the listener by surprise and has them wondering where the piece will go next. Eminent Russian cellist Leonid Gorokhov leads a master class with Louis Goldstein, mainly focusing on physical positioning to draw out a more resonant cello sound and encouraging him to emphasize the contrasting musical passages. Leonid Gorokhov began studying the cello at the age of seven, later graduating from the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory while attending masterclasses with Daniil Shafran. He is the only Russian cellist to have won both the Grand Prix and First Prize at the Geneva Competition. In 1995, the European Association for the Encouragement of the Arts awarded Gorokhov the Prize for Cultural Achievement for his exceptional talent and artistic success.