Piatigorsky: Promenade (Stroll) from Four Pieces for Solo Cello

Piatigorsky first performed Promenade, subtitled “Prokofiev Meets Shostakovich in Moscow”, at a farewell party that he hosted at the end of Prokofiev’s 1938 U.S. tour. He evoked a scene in which Prokofiev and Shostakovich exchange sarcastic quips over the course of a walk. In 1962 he performed the piece in Moscow and his brother, cellist Alexander Stogorsky, requested a copy. Piatigorsky wrote it out on the spot and Stogorsky published it in the journal Soviet Music. It is the only published item from the Four Pieces for Solo Cello. Piatigorsky recorded Prelude and Procession (Promenade) for Columbia. They were never released, but test pressings exist in the Piatigorsky Archives, along with a recording made at Grinnell College shortly before his death. (ca. 1940)