Forced to provide for his family from the age of 8 and thrown out of his home into a bitter Moscow winter at age 12, cellist Gregor Piatigorsky began his career as an archetypal struggling artist, using secondhand and borrowed instruments. When the October Revolution forced his escape to Warsaw, he enjoyed initial success with the Warsaw Philharmonic. Relocating to Berlin a few months later, he again struggled in poverty before eventually emerging as solo cellist with the Berlin Philharmonic. Settling in the United States during World II, Piatigorsky continued a brilliant career that cemented his place as one of the twentieth century's greatest musicians. This all-embracing chronicle of Piatigorsky's tempestuous life and career finally reveals the full life story of a musical legend.

A Cello solo with Piano Accompaniment composed by Carl Maria von Weber and arranged by Gregor Piatigorsky.

An artist and his search for the meaning of life, art, and everything that surrounds him and inspires him. In the author's own words: "YOU who read best sellers and wear standard size shoes. YOU who never take unscheduled flights and never share views of the few. YOU who spit on a chess table and don't eat Snails Provencal. YOU wasters stuffed with timetables and self-importance -- YOU will never belong to Mr. Blok's admirers. But You who are capable of seeing your own ridiculousness; You, the spirited and the ones undiscouraged by your own futility -- You, readers, will find Mr. Blok a likable fellow, who will not mind in the slightest being put aside, should he not succeed in holding your attention."

To help bring to the United States chess of the highest quality in the world, Mrs. Gregor Piatigorsky and her husband, the world renowned cellist, created the Piatigorsky Cup as a symbol of excellence in chess. Along with the trophy went the finest playing conditions and the highest prizes ever offered for any chess event. For the first time since 1932, a world chess champion appeared in an American tournament when Tigran Petrosian, USSR, joined seven other of the greatest international grandmasters in a month of competition at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Players, in addition to Petrosian, included Paul Keres, also of the Soviet Union; Miguel Najdorf and Oscar Panno of Argentina; Fridrik Olafsson of Iceland; Svetozar Gligoric of Yugoslavia; and Samuel Reshevsky and Pal Benko of the United States. This book contains the complete score of all 56 games played by these eight international grandmasters. All of the games have been converted into Algebraic Notation. Each of the players annotated the game he considered his best and Reshevsky annotated the rest. The book is edited by Isaac Kashdan. Many of these games are likely to become classics and every chess player, from novice to master, will be able to learn fine points of the game from this volume.

Ten of the world's strongest chess players competed in the strongest chess tournament ever held in the US. All ten of the players have provided annotations to their games. Every one of the 90 games in the tournament is annotated. All the games have been converted to modern Algebraic Notation with diagrams. The games are annotated by Jan H. Donner, Robert Fischer, Borislav Ivkov, Bent Larsen, Miguel Najdorf, Tigran Petrosian, Lajos Portisch, Samuel Reshevsky, Boris Spassky, and Wolfgang Unzicker. Introduction by Gregor Piatigorsky. Edited by Isaac Kashdan with a new foreword by Sam Sloan.

In Gene Sharing and Evolution Piatigorsky explores the generality and implications of gene sharing throughout evolution and argues that most if not all proteins perform a variety of functions in the same and in different species, and that this is a fundamental necessity for evolution.

Translated from the French by Florence W. Seder, Dimitry Markevitch concludes his preface, or Prelude as he calls it: "History, fact and personal anecdote blend here to provide a complete story of the instrument. May this book entertain you, help you to know the cello to the fullest, and lead you to love it as I do." Reading the book confirms that he has amply accomplished his aims. His qualifications for doing so are of the highest. Markevitch is a performer of considerable note and a teacher at both the Ecole Normale de Musique and Conservatoire Serge Rachmaninoff in Paris. He also has a keen interest in musicology and has edited many works for publication. The book is divided into three parts: "The Instrument," tracing the history of the cello and cello bow from earliest times, "The Performers," anecdotes of historical cellists plus a long section on Markevitch's friend Piatigorsky, and "Great Moments for the Cello," development of cello repertoire.