Emil Gilels: The Giant

On this CD:

1. Fantasia for piano in D minor (fragment), K. 397 (K. 385g)
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performed by Emil Grigoryevich Gilels

2. Piano Sonata No. 8 in A minor, K. 310 (K. 300d)
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performed by Emil Grigoryevich Gilels

3. Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor ("Pathétique") Op. 13
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performed by Emil Grigoryevich Gilels

4. Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor ("Moonlight"), Op. 27/2
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performed by Emil Grigoryevich Gilels

5. Variations for piano in C minor on an original theme, WoO 80
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performed by Emil Grigoryevich Gilels

6. Moments musicaux (6) for piano, D. 780 (Op. 94)
Composed by Franz Schubert
Performed by Emil Grigoryevich Gilels

7. Arabeske for piano in C major, Op. 18
Composed by Robert Schumann
Performed by Emil Grigoryevich Gilels

8. Rhapsodie espagnole (Folies d'Espagne et jota aragonesa), for piano, S. 254 (LW A195)
Composed by Franz Liszt
Performed by Emil Grigoryevich Gilels

9. Pavane pour une infante défunte, for piano (or orchestra)
Composed by Maurice Ravel
Performed by Emil Grigoryevich Gilels

10. Jeux d'eau, for piano
Composed by Maurice Ravel
Performed by Emil Grigoryevich Gilels

11. Piano Sonata No. 3 in F sharp minor ("Etats d'âme"), Op. 23
Composed by Alexander Nikolayevich Skryabin
Performed by Emil Grigoryevich Gilels

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Gilels is captured in full flight in these Moscow concert performances between 1965 and 1984. The first of the two generously filled discs offers his considerable skills as an interpreter of Mozart and Beethoven. No mincing around a porcelain, bewigged Mozart here; Gilels's is big, bold playing full of vitality and thrust, even in repose. His Beethoven is just as compelling, the Variations brought off with virtuoso aplomb and the high point reached in his richly introspective Adagio of the Pathétique and a rip-roaring finale of the Moonlight. On disc two, the Moments Musicaux are done with tonal beauty and vast dynamic range. At times, as in the fifth piece of the set, Gilels plays with a ferocity that threatens to overwhelm the music, but his dazzling virtuosity makes such moments forgivable. The Ravel works also get a burly treatment that's thrilling, if unidiomatic. Best are the Liszt and the Scriabin, powerful performances glowing with Romantic heat. An indispensable set. --Dan Davis

Amazon.com

Gilels is captured in full flight in these Moscow concert performances between 1965 and 1984. The first of the two generously filled discs offers his considerable skills as an interpreter of Mozart and Beethoven. No mincing around a porcelain, bewigged Mozart here; Gilels's is big, bold playing full of vitality and thrust, even in repose. His Beethoven is just as compelling, the Variations brought off with virtuoso aplomb and the high point reached in his richly introspective Adagio of the Pathétique and a rip-roaring finale of the Moonlight. On disc two, the Moments Musicaux are done with tonal beauty and vast dynamic range. At times, as in the fifth piece of the set, Gilels plays with a ferocity that threatens to overwhelm the music, but his dazzling virtuosity makes such moments forgivable. The Ravel works also get a burly treatment that's thrilling, if unidiomatic. Best are the Liszt and the Scriabin, powerful performances glowing with Romantic heat. An indispensable set. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews:

mozart the great.......2002-09-11

I heard other recordings of Mozart's k 310-none of them were so powerful and touching as Gilels'performance.Mozart and the other composers seem to be playing through Gilels. Sometimes I was distracted by the coughing and sneezing-some of those people sounded like they should have been in a hospital, not a theatre!-but the music is so great I could still listen spellbound.

Live is Best.......2001-01-03

I cannot disagree with the previous reviewer more. The sound of the audience is trivial when compared with the living performances found on these 2 CDs. No airbrush here (mistakes are audible) to take the life out of the pianist, as so many studio recordings do. Clearly energized in these concert hall settings, Gilels plays his heart out, and with his talent that is saying much. The recording is also beautifully done. The concert halls are well reproduced on a good system, another way in which the fact that these performances were recorded live enhances the experience. I picked this recording up on a whim, but it is quite probably the best thing I bought in 2000. I heartily recommend it.

coughing and sneezing.......2000-07-17