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Pikaizen's Paganini Recordings
Paganini 24 caprices played by Pikaizen, split into pieces for convinience
video icon Pikaizen playing paganini caprices 1-5 on a Melodia recording
video icon Pikaizen playing paganini caprices 6-11
video icon Pikaizen playing paganini caprices 12-18
video icon Pikaizen playing paganini caprices 19-24

Victor Aleksandreevich Pikaizen (born February 15, 1933), was a famous Jewish-Ukranian violinist and a student of the legendary David Oistrakh[1][2]. Pikaizen was born into a musical family in Kiev, later moving to Moscow for further education.

In 1944 Pikaizen was auditioned by David Oistrakh, which greatly impressed the master, and 2 years later (in 1946) Pikaizen became a pupil of Oistrakh at the Gnesyns School and remained Oistrakh's pupil for XYZ years. During approximately this time Pikaizen also won a number of the most prestigious competitions at the time:

  • 1949 - laureate of the Jan Kubelik Competition (Prague)
  • 1955 - laureate of the Queen Elizabeth International competition (Brussels, Belgium)
  • 1957 - laureate of the International competition Marguerite Long - Jacques Thibaud (Paris, France)
  • 1958 - laureate of the Tchaikovsky International competition (Moscow)
  • 1965 - laureate of the International Paganini competition (Genoa, Italy)
  • 1969 - holder of the Grand-Prix awarded the French firm "Shan du monde" for Paganini‘s recordings

Since 1957 Pikaizen was a soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic and performed intensively at the best concert halls of Russia, England, France, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Japan etc.

His vast repertoire includes Russian and foreign classical compositions but he is especially celebrated for his performance of the 24 Paganini Caprices, of which he performed all 24 over 70 times in public. The considerable part of his repertoire belongs to contemporary composers‘ works, such as the violin concertos of Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Khachaturyan, e.t.c. He has also written a number of cadenzas to different violin concertos and performed them on several occasions.

Early Years

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From a very early age Victor Pikaizen showed considerable musical potential. At the tender age of 6 he entered a Kiev Conservetoire School, and already at age 9 he had had his first debut with a symphony orchestra.

TODO: Include this reference: (as a book) Jews and Jewish Elements in Soviet Music: A Study of a Socio-national Problem in Music

  1. ^ The Strad - Volume 95. Orpheus. 1984. p. 413. He left a number of recordings as a conductor, the most interesting being those in which he accompanied string soloists: Harold in Italy with Barshai (Oistrakh did not make a recording of this work playing the viola, although it was in his regular repertory) and concertos with Oleg Kagan, Igor Oistrakh, Viktor Pikaizen and Rosa Fain, all pupils of his. Which brings us to one of the most enduring monuments to Oistrakh's genius - his success as a pedagogue
  2. ^ Music in the USSR. VAAP-INFORM. 1989. We repeated it almost word for word at the meeting of the musical society in the district centre of Sirvintos, attended by Igor Oistrakh, Khalida Akh- tyamova, Victor Pikaizen, the pupils of the great David Oistrakh to whose memory are devoted the courses of the highest performing skill,