The issue of status in the classical music world is no different than in many artistic realms. Many of the top names are truly great artists, while others are not – and there are many greats who never make a big name for themselves, or who do for a while but then disappear from public view. One of the areas of focus in my work with historical piano recordings has been finding recordings by pianists who were exceptional musicians and performers but who didn’t have a career that their talent and musicianship warranted, careers that other less skilled performers might have enjoyed.
One such musician who I only came across in 2017 was close friends with and greatly admired by two of the pianists I’d first come to love when I began my exploration of old recordings. Horowitz and Rachmaninoff both adored this artist and considered her not just a close friend but a phenomenal musician. It was in fact Horowitz who in 2017 somehow brought her name back to a wider public, when all of a sudden one day on YouTube a performance appeared of Horowitz playing a movement from Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos with one ‘unknown’ Gitta Gradova. Piano fans went completely wild over this private recording (made in Gradova’s home on January 6, 1950) of a work that Horowitz didn’t record commercially – there are additionally no two-piano recordings in his discography in addition to this recent discovery, hence its tremendous interest to pianophiles. The entire Sonata has in 2021 been uploaded – here it is:
The playing on the part of both pianists is absolutely wonderful – and of course the question everyone was asking (other than ‘are there any more recordings of them?’) was ‘Who was Gitta Gradova?’ I did some quick searching online and found that her son Thomas Cottle, a psychologist and author, had penned a book about his mother entitled When the Music Stopped and had uploaded some details about her on the internet. I immediately ordered the book and had an engaging email exchange with Cottle, who was grateful to hear that this recording had generated such interest and that his mother was being appreciated by specialists in the field.
Gradova was, despite her Russian-sounding name, born and trained in the US. She was born Gertrude Weinstock in Chicago to Russian immigrants (she was their only American-born child). Her musical talent was discovered early and she trained with Esther Harris Dua in Chicago until at the age of 13, when she was sent to study with (and live with!) none other than Sergei Prokofiev.
Her home was a hub for the musical elite visiting Chicago: Rachmaninoff, Horowitz, Toscanini, Levant, Milstein, Kogan, Heifetz, Marian Anderson …. all dined and socialized there, visiting both during her relatively short career as well as after her name had faded from the public. Some of the time Paul Robeson spent hiding from the authorities was in Gradova’s house (it seems that it was her son’s telling his schoolmates that the famed singer was at their home that led him to then hide elsewhere). But Gradova was not just socially well connected with the top musicians of her time – she was also widely praised by top-tier musicians for her astounding pianism.
In December 1940 Gradova gave a sensational broadcast performance with the New York Philharmonic under John Barbirolli playing Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. It is worth noting that she had a very close relationship with Rachmaninoff: he admired her playing and visited her home in Chicago regularly, and Gradova visited him in Switzerland too – and it is interesting indeed that she spent the summer with him in 1934, when he was writing the Rhapsody, given that the only known surviving broadcast recording of Gradova is of this composition.
The December 8 concert – the third of three performances that week – was broadcast nationwide on the radio. Gradova’s son recounts that Horowitz telegrammed her two weeks in advance stating that he had arranged for her to use his own orchestral concert grand piano. Gradova stayed with Horowitz and his wife in their Manhattan apartment and Horowitz coached her. Prior to one of the performances on their ride to Carnegie Hall, according to Horowitz’s pupil Gary Graffman, Horowitz’s manner of encouraging her involved phrases like ‘under no circumstances can you stop, for stopping is provincial’ – causing undue stress both to Gradova and Horowitz himself. But one would never know it listening to her amazing playing in the surviving recording.
Regrettably, the extant transcription discs did not capture the entire reading: while there were often two recording devices that were ‘cutting’ the records of such broadcasts so that no music would be lost, that seems not to have been the case on this occasion, so there are several shorter sections of the work that are missing at times when the discs would have required changing. This is truly unfortunate as the playing is absolutely stupendous. From the very first notes, Gradova’s magnetic pianism is immediately apparent and indeed in the first variation she already approaches things very differently from any other reading I’ve heard: the notes making up the melody in the variation at 0:27 are often played very detached, but Gradova varies her accents and dynamics such that she creates a long line out of these separate notes, phrasing the melody rather than simply punctuating each note without a contextual relationship to the others.
Gitta Gradova plays Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini – December 1940 New York broadcast
Gradova retired from the concert platform the following season. It seems that her husband had pressured her to move on from ‘this career business.’. Some of her famous friends attempted to convince her to return to active musical life, among them Prokofiev, Rubinstein, Elman, and Heifetz – but to no avail.
She would, however, stay involved in musical circles behind the scenes, the elite continuing to visit her long after her retirement (it was on one such visit in 1950 that she and Horowitz recorded the Mozart Sonata movement above). The impact that her withdrawal from concert life had on her well-being and the family dynamic was unfortunate: she had a fiery relationship with her son, the two regularly ending up in explosive arguments and virulent insults. It was only after a significant period of time that she would admit that she had regretted retiring.
Gradova finally had plans to come out of retirement late in life, and at the age of 80 in 1984 she was booked to play Rachmaninoff’s First Piano Concerto with James Levine conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra the following year. Tragically, she died three months prior to the concert.
Gradova never made a commercial recording and all that we have are the incomplete 1940 New York Philharmonic broadcast and a handful of private recordings, some of which are posted below. It is to be hoped that more performances of this great musician will be found and made available, as she truly was a remarkably communicative musician and brilliant musical mind. One wonders indeed how many other brilliant musicians who didn’t leave behind even a handful of private recordings might have not left a legacy in either the form of concert performance or recordings (some are featured in other articles on this website). While there is less of Gradova than we would hope, we can consider ourselves fortunate to have even this glimpse into her artistry.
In the readings below – on a sadly very out-of-tune piano and wavering sound on the source material (it sounds as though she is playing a honky-tonk piano in a Wild West saloon) – Gradova demonstrates tremendous fluency and facility, with precise fingerwork, seamless phrasing, and gorgeous tone appreciable despite the subpar piano and recorded sound. In the Mussorgsky Gopak we hear rhythmic vitality, centred tone, and tautly-voiced chords, while the Arensky Etude Op.36 No.13 is notable for its elegantly-shaped runs and a beautiful long melodic line in the left hand.
Moussorgsky ‘Gopak’ and Arensky Etude Op.36 No.13
While I am not a fan of piano rolls (player pianos through which a perforated roll ‘cut’ by the performer reproduces – to some extent – their performance), this particular one is very well achieved, and after listening to the poor-quality sonic recording of the Arensky above, we can glean a little more in hearing this rendering:
The Chopin performances also demonstrate intelligent and supple shaping of melodic lines and a natural rubato that never compromises the rhythmic pulse.
Chopin Valse Op.64 No.2 and Mazurka Op.67 No.4
Here is another home recording of Gradova that features her playing a movement from a Mozart Quartet with some of her visiting musical friends (skip the first 20 seconds of this video to avoid some extraneous material from the movie-making program) – another magnificent performance by the artist.
And this 1949-50 radio interview is fascinating – not least because Gradova publicly states that her retirement from the platform was not due to family responsibilities, despite the fact that this was apparently very much the reason. Nevertheless, a fascinating opportunity to hear the artist in conversation and to learn more about her.
It is to be hoped that all existing performances of Gradova will be compiled, mastered, and made available for piano fans – she was clearly an astounding musician, one whose artistry could still have an impact on musicians today were her artistry more readily accessible. In the meantime, the recordings which we have are a fascinating insight into a sadly forgotten pianist and the realm of Romantic pianism.