About the label

The foundation of the Label Live Classics emerged from our longstanding friendship with the violinist Oleg Kagan, the cellist Natalia Gutman, and the pianists Sviatoslav Richter and Elisso Wirssaladze. Lateron, the clarinetist Eduard Brunner, the pianist and composer Vassily Lobanov and the pianist Igor Shukov joined the group. With Oleg Kagan and his wife Natalia Gutman we suffered through the hard time of illness in the years 1989/90 and it was only natural that after Oleg’s death this family of musicians and friends had become much closer. At this time, we, together with Natalia Gutman and Elisso Wirssaladze started to define a conceptional basis of a publishing institution. The label Live Classics was meant to be instrumental in preserving the unique art of Oleg Kagan and to provide a platform for live recordings of outstanding concerts of our artists.