Respected artist and educator who trained numerous internationally known musicians.
He was named in 1968 an Honored Artist of the RSFSR and in 1990 People's Artist of the RSFSR.
His students included Dmitri Alexeev, Arcadi Volodos, Nikolai Demidenko, Stanislav Ioudenitch, and Claudio Martinez Mehner.
He was born in Tbilisi, Georgia.
His recordings of Ludwig van Beethoven's works were mostly released on CD.