Emil Gilels Ludwig

Every man's death diminishes us all, but the death of a man so close to completing his greatest achievement and the summation of his life's work diminishes us all greatly – very, very greatly. When Emil Gilels died in 1985, he had completed recordings of most but not all of Beethoven's piano sonatas, released here in a nine-disc set. What's here is unimaginably good: superlative recordings of 27 of the 32 canonical sonatas, including the "Pathétique," "Moonlight," "Waldstein," "Appassionata," "Les Adieux," and the majestic "Hammerklavier," plus the two early "Electoral" Sonatas and the mighty Eroica Variations. What's missing is unimaginably priceless: five of the canonical sonatas, including the first and – horror vacui – the last. But still, for what there is, we must be grateful. Beyond all argument one of the great pianists of the twentieth century, Gilels the Soviet super virtuoso had slowly mellowed and ripened over his long career, and when he began recording the sonatas in 1972, his interpretations had matured and deepened while his superlative technique remained gloriously intact straight through to the last recordings of his final year.

This is the most beautiful of Mozart playing, his last piano concerto given here by Emil Gilels with total clarity. This is a classic performance, memorably accompanied by the VPO and Böhm. Suffice it to say that Gilels sees everything and exaggerates nothing, that the performance has an Olympian authority and serenity, and that the Larghetto is one of the glories of the gramophone. He's joined by his daughter Elena in the Double Piano Concerto in E flat, and their physical relationship is mirrored in the quality, and the mutual understanding of the playing: both works receive marvellous interpretations. We think Emil plays first, Elena second, but could be quite wrong. The VPO under Karl Böhm is at its best; and so is the quality of recording, with a good stereo separation of the two solo parts, highly desirable in this work.

This release features a previously-unreleased recording of pianist Emil Gilels, captured live in an acclaimed 1964 Seattle recital. With the exception of a single work, this recital has never before been made available to the general public and is now being released for the first time. Released in time to celebrate the pianist’s 100th anniversary, the recital includes works by Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Prokofiev, Stravinsky and more.

Emil Gilels was one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century. Three decades after his death, many of his recordings still represent the benchmark to which all others are compared.
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of his birth in 2016 Deutsche Grammophon brings together for the first time all of its Gilels recordings in a 24CD box-set with original covers, including seven discs of rare Russian recordings that he made at the beginning of his career.

Firma Melodiya presents a set of rare recordings by Emil Gilels.The world knows many talented pianists and a few great masters who tower above them all. Emil Gilels is one of them. The titans of piano like Gilels are borne once in a century. Those were the kind of reviews that accompanied Gilels throughout his pianistic career beginning with his victory at the all-union competition in 1933 in Moscow. However, this set will open new sides to Gilelss repertoire even to those who is well acquainted with his recordings. We will hear Emil Gilels as an ensemble musician.The titan of piano, who roused the audiences and orchestras, was able to turn into a fine chamber musician, a wonderful ensemble partner as though he dissolved his brightest individuality in a piece he performed. The more so because Gilelss partners were truly brilliant soloists such as Yakov Flier and Yakov Zak (piano), Elizaveta Gilels (violin), musicians from the Beethoven Quartet Dmitri Tsyganov (violin), Vadim Borisovsky (viola) and Sergei Shirinsky (cello). The set features compositions from various periods.

One of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century, Emil Gilels (1916-1985) possessed a fearless technical facility and a highly cultivated tone control that freed him to follow his interpretive instincts. In this program, Gilels plays two masterpieces of the concerto repertoire: Grieg's Piano Concerto and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3. Both works are conducted by Paavo Berglund, leading the Philharmonia Orchestra in the Beethoven and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in the Grieg. Live performances, Finlandia Hall, Helsinki, 1983 (Grieg) /1984 (Beethoven). 86 min., Color, mono, 4:3, All regions.

This fantastic compilation picks up the First period of his brilliant career as any other compilation never did it. Mercurial and epic pianism at its best. His Brahms - exultant and thundering - exceed his late readings with Jochum (less profound if you may, but much more expansive and less restrained). His reading about Shostakovich Sonata 2 is out of this world.

The history of the Russian chamber ensemble of the middle of the 20th century, in all possibility, did not know a more intricate yet remarkable brilliant group of musicians than the celebrated trio of Emil Gilels. Leonid Kogan and Mstislav Rostropovich. All to different in their essence were these three artistic individualities – these three virtuosos, spoilt children of fortune, who were brought together at various stages of disclosure of their outstanding talents. At that, there was not a great difference between their respective ages – Gilels was born in 1916, Kogan was born in 1924 and Rostropovich was born in 1927. Nonetheless, whereas Gilels was already able to reconsider and revise in many ways his principles of work, departing further and further from a pure demonstration of capabilities of his breathtaking technique, Rostropovich and Kogan were still passing through their lengthy period of thrill over their virtuosic powers, affecting their audiences in a straightforward manner.