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By Olga Fyodorova
One springtime evening in 1952 there was a noisy crowd gathered in front
of the Conservatory Central Music School in Moscow. Dressed up and flowers
in hand, people were visibly waiting for something very special to happen…
“What are we having tonight?” - inquired a woman passing by.
“There is a 9-year-old girl playing the first solo concert in her life...”
“I see, just another whiz kid coming out of the woodwork…”
“Whiz kid? Well, sounds right but still misses the point because
this girl is a real wonder, really. She does more than just play finger
twisting runs, she adds something all her own making each piece shine like
a diamond!”
“She’s a pianist?..”
“No, she plays the cello…”
“Too big an instrument and too heavy for such a little girl… I guess this
kid is real big, is she?”
“I don’t think so… She’s petite and frail-looking with big and shiny
black eyes. I’m sure she’s going to make it real big in music. The
name’s Natalya Gutman…”
Natalya’s talent made itself felt early on and at the still tender age
of five she entered a school for musically endowed children where her refined
musicality and phenomenal memory quickly put her at the top of her class…
Easily sailing through the school years, she entered the Moscow Conservatory.
As a first year student she won second prize at a national competition
which opened her the doors to the prestigious Tchaikovsky competition in
Moscow where the 19 year-old Natalya finished third. In the same
year she won the top award of the Antonin Dvorak international contest
in Prague and a few years later bowed out with the gold medal playing at
a much-touted competition in Munich…
Graduating from the Conservatory where she studied in the class of Professor
Galina Kozolupova, Natalya Gutman joined a post-graduate course then led
by Mstislav Rostropovich. A busy tour schedule prevented the
world-famous cellist from spending the required two days a week with his
students. Flying into town for just one short day, he immediately called
in his students and they worked all night through... If he chanced to have
several free days running, they worked every day… Natalya eagerly absorbed
everything he taught her making a real breakthrough during the few short
years she studied with the great master.
Admiring his much-talented student, Rostropovich was now taking Natalya
along each time he went on tour and introduced her to many of his equally
stellar friends. That’s how she met Svyatoslav Richter often teaming
up on stage with the great pianist. Richter occasionally accompanied her
during those memorable collaborations…
Impressed by the exceptional mastery of the young cellist, Richter now
enjoyed playing with her in concerts and when he organized his famous December
Nights chamber festival, Natalya never missed a chance to play there.
One of Richter’s favorites, Natalya Gutman played with him at many prestigious
European festivals…
Friendly, openhearted and vulnerable, Natalya Gutman was everyone’s darling.
One day she met Oleg Kagan who she knew was such an excellent violinist
and a fun-loving man. The moment she saw him she was stunned by the amazing,
almost visible, radiance coming from this man. Golden hair, shiny eyes,
a friendly smile… He was also a great communicator and Natalya had never
seen such a man in her whole life! Falling for her new friend, Natalya
had to restrain her feelings though staying true to her husband and child.
Moreover, Oleg was five years her junior, something she then saw as yet
another insuperable obstacle…
The two became steady partners playing together in various ensembles, including
with the venerable Richter who was quick to appreciate the larger-than
life talent of this up and coming violinist…
Still, once you fall in love it’s hard to keep your feelings to yourself.
Especially if your heartfelt affection is fully shared by someone you love.
Before very long they declared their love for each other and shortly after,
became husband and wife...
Oleg and Natalya were an amazingly beautiful pair. He - tall, slender with
golden hair, she - black haired and lissome… They looked different but
there was a stamp of talent and intelligence that made them look like a
single whole…
Their doors were always wide open to friends and even the birth of their
two children did not prevent them from making new friends…
Proving a great father, Oleg organized all kinds of fun pastime for the
kids, like, for example a home theater their neighbors’ children also happily
joined in. Never a model housewife, Natalya cooked all kinds of palate
tickling food and even made cakes for those get-togethers. When it came
to the musical side of those improvised concerts, Oleg and Natalya worked
as a team.
Then, like a bolt from the blue, Oleg was diagnosed with cancer... He needed
an operation. There was no time to lose, and Natalya was running all around
town looking for doctors, medicines and the right clinic for her husband.
Oleg was operated on but it was too late… A course of chemotherapy didn’t
help much. Oleg was dying… Canceling all her tours, Natalya, taking the
kids along, rushed to the small town in Germany and rented a house
close to the clinic Oleg was in. She was praying for a miracle to
happen and happen it did with the already doomed Oleg playing at concerts,
only a few short hours before dying… Playing even though his entire system
was now falling apart…
After Oleg’s funeral, Natalya, heartbroken and feeling lonely, plunged
into a lengthy period of depression she might have never emerged from had
it not been for her children, her friends and her overpowering love for
music…
The kids have since grown up and are excellent musicians all playing with
their mother in the annual Oleg Kagan memorial festivals she holds in Moscow
and in Germany where Oleg played his last concert…
In another tribute to the memory of her late husband and, of course, of
Svyatoslav Richter, Natalya Gutman also plays at the annual December Nights
festivals here in Moscow…
She lives an action-packed life of concerts, tours, and teaching at the
Moscow Conservatory, sitting on the jury of major international competitions
and, of course, she spends much time with her children, grandchildren,
students and friends who all need help and advice of this strong and openhearted
woman…
Completely devoid of jealousy, vanity and petty ambition, Natalya Gutman
has spent all her life in the service of Music, that’s why she is so admired
by music lovers all over the world...
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