Ossip Gabrilowitsch

Biography

Ossip Gabrilowitsch, a concert pianist living in St. Petersburg, was engaged by Adin Marshall Wright to tour the United States playing a concert grand piano built for the purpose, with Wright traveling to Russia to make the arrangements; the tour was a success for both piano and virtuoso. He later toured the United States again in the winter of 1905-6, this time under the management of Henry Lowell Mason, performing on and promoting the Mason and Hamlin piano. Ossip Gabrilowitsch was a virtuoso pianist noted for admiring the Becker piano. He lauded the power and brilliancy of the Everett piano and praised the Mason & Hamlin for its phenomenal carrying and singing quality. His endorsements were cited among the testimonials that piano manufacturers of the period regarded as genuine evidence of an instrument's merit, rather than as bought praise.

Highlights

• Admired the Becker piano.
• Lauded the power and brilliancy of the Everett piano.
• Praised the Mason & Hamlin for its phenomenal carrying and singing quality.
• Toured the United States on a grand piano specially arranged by Adin M. Wright, who traveled to Gabrilowitsch's home in St. Petersburg to secure him
• Undertook a further American tour in the winter of 1905-6 under Henry Lowell Mason's management, promoting the Mason and Hamlin piano

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 398; Vol. II (1913), pp. 151, 154.

Public domain.