Nikolai Orlov

Nikolai Orlov, born Nikolai Andreyevich Orlov, was a Russian pianist and music teacher. He was born in Yelets on 26 February 1892 and died in Grantown-on-Spey, Scotland, on 31 May 1964.

He studied at the Gnessin Music School and then at the Moscow Conservatory in the piano class of Konstantin Igumnov, graduating in 1910. He also studied composition and counterpoint privately with Taneyev.

In 1912 he gave his first solo recital, and in the same year he gave the premiere of Glazunov's First Piano Concerto. From 1913 to 1915 he taught at the Music and Drama School of the Moscow Philharmonic Society, and from 1916 to 1921 he was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory.

In 1921 he left for concert tours and performed in Germany and France, where he remained, living in Paris. In 1924 he made his London debut, and on 28 October 1926 he appeared in New York at Aeolian Hall. During the 1920s and 1930s he toured in North and South America and across Europe, and was especially popular in Scandinavia, Italy, and the Netherlands. A cycle of five Chopin programs that he performed in London in 1933 became one of the outstanding musical events of the time.

In 1947 he gave two five-week courses at the music college in Cincinnati, Ohio. From 1948 he was based in Scotland. In 1961 he gave a charity concert at the Russian Conservatory in Paris.

Orlov was regarded as a pianist of the highest technique and a romantic style, closer to the playing manner of the nineteenth century than to the new Russian school. His ability to achieve poetic sound effects was especially evident in his performances of works by Chopin, Schumann, and Scriabin. At the same time, he displayed virtuoso breadth and scale in performances of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Third Concerto and Nikolai Medtner's First Concerto.

He performed with orchestras conducted by Alexander Glazunov and Serge Koussevitzky. He also played in ensemble with the cellists S. Antoni and A. Sala, and served as accompanist to Nina Koshetz. A recording of Chopin preludes performed by Orlov is preserved in the sound archive of the Mikhail Glinka Museum of Musical Culture.

Works dedicated to Orlov include one of the pieces of Sergei Prokofiev's Op. 52, Nikolai Myaskovsky's Third Sonata, Waltz Op. 30 by Georges Catoire, and Three Fragments Op. 6 by Grigory Krein. He was awarded the Order of Leopold I.

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