Emil Gilels
Emil Gilels was one of the great pianists of history, renowned for his clear, steady playing as much as for his virtuoso brilliance. He was a master of a wide repertory from the time of Bach to his own compatriots and one of the first pianists to adopt a modern, more objective style of playing and interpreting music. He was also one of the first Soviet artists allowed to perform in the West following World War II. His numerous recordings made both in studio and from live recitals and on both Soviet state-sponsored and Western labels have been digitally remastered for contemporary listeners to experience his legacy.
Gilels was born in Odessa on October 19, 1916. The son of a bookkeeper in a sugar factory, Gilels grew up in a musical family: his parents were enthusiastic amateur pianists. Gilels' younger sister, Elizabeth, became a violinist. He entered the Odessa Institute of Music and Drama in 1922 to study with Yakov Tkatch and Berthe Ringold. Following a successful debut as a child prodigy in 1929, he transferred to study at the Odessa Conservatory in 1932, where Arthur Rubinstein heard him. With Rubinstein's encouragement, Gilels entered the All-Union Musicians' Competition for pianists in 1933 and captured the top prize, the first in a string of prizes he would win in international competitions in the mid-'30s. He was simultaneously studying with Heinrich Neuhaus at the Moscow Conservatory and became Neuhaus' assistant in 1938. Gilels and David Oistrakh were meant to appear at the 1939 New York World's Fair, but the outbreak of World War II in Europe prevented their travel. Throughout the war, Gilels was confined to the Soviet Union, performing for the troops and in occupied cities. After the war, he won the Stalin Prize, and over the years, he was given many other awards and honors in recognition of his contributions to morale during the war.
Gilels, Leonid Kogan -- his sister's husband -- and Mstislav Rostropovich formed a trio in 1945. Gilels and his sister gave recitals after the war, and he also performed two-piano music with Yacov Flier. In 1947, Gilels married pianist and composer Farizet Khutsyostova, whom he had met when they were both students at the Moscow Conservatory. Their daughter Elena also became a concert pianist. The year after Gilels' marriage, he made his first appearance outside the Soviet Union, a recital in Prague. This was followed by concerts in Florence, Scandinavia, and Berlin and by his first recordings. Gilels made his triumphant American debut in October 1955 with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy, becoming the first prominent Soviet musician to appear in the United States since the start of the Cold War. He went on to perform to equal acclaim in New York, where the contrast between his small physical stature and his magisterial playing prompted the New York Times to call him "the little giant." Gilels returned to North America for a Canadian tour the following year and had another successful debut in England in 1959.
Gilels was a two-time recipient of the Order of Lenin in the 1960s, as well as the Order of Commandeur Mérite Culturel et Artistique de Paris and Belgium's Order of Leopold. Throughout his performing career, Gilels continued to teach at the Moscow Conservatory, taking a few private students and teaching classes in technique. He died in Moscow on October 14, 1985. Gilels' strength was in the clarity and ease with which he played, in his brilliance, and in his "strong and unassuming musicianship," as critic Harold Schoenberg, who called him the "thinking man's pianist," put it. Indeed, Gilels' interpretations were always thought-provoking, inviting the listener the grasp the spiritual and intellectual totality of a particular composition. The list of composers he was known for playing is long, but a survey of his recordings, from youthful impulsiveness to mature mastery of subtle detail, is a well-rewarded journey.
© TiVo Staff /TiVo
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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Emil Gilels, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Karel Ancerl, USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin
Classical - Released by Praga Digitals on 1 Jun 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 11
Classical - Released by RCA Red Seal on 19 Aug 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Piano Concerto No.27; Concerto for Two Pianos K.365
Emil Gilels, Elena Gilels, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Karl Böhm
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1974
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven, Schumann & Brahms: Piano Works (Live)
Classical - Released by Orfeo on 28 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Tchaikovsky: Concerto pour piano No. 1 (Mono Version)
Emil Gilels, Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1956
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Р. Шуман - Концерт для фортепиано с оркестром ля минор
Classical - Released by RC3 on 23 Jan 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach, Mozart & Others: Piano Works
Classical - Released by Russian Compact Disc on 3 Jan 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart & Haydn: Piano Concertos
Classical - Released by JSC Firma Melodiya on 1 Jan 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in D Major
Emil Gilels, Moscow Chamber Orchestra
Classical - Released by World Classical Music Digital on 15 Mar 1970
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Emil Gilels, Piano: Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Prokofiev & Shostakovich
Emil Gilels, Fritz Reiner, Unknown Artist
Classical - Released by Aquarius Classic on 25 Mar 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Emil Gilels 100, Vol. 18 (Live)
Classical - Released by JSC Firma Melodiya on 1 Jan 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Emil Gilels 100, Vol. 32 (Live)
Classical - Released by JSC Firma Melodiya on 1 Jan 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin Piano Sonata No. 3 in B Minor (1979 Remastered)
Classical - Released by RC3 on 30 Apr 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor
Emil Gilels, Symphony Orchestra of the Leningrad
Classical - Released by RC3 on 19 Oct 2021
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Beethoven: Concerto pour piano No. 3 (Mono Version)
Emil Gilels, André Cluytens, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Emil Gilels 100, Vol. 23 (Live)
Classical - Released by JSC Firma Melodiya on 1 Jan 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Live in New York, 19.11.1966 (Live)
Concertos - Released by JSC Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga Musica on 11 Mar 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Emil Gilels plays Russian Music [Scriabin, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Khachaturian...]
Classical - Released by Praga Digitals on 1 Jan 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Э. Григ. Лирические пьесы (Remastered 2022)
Classical - Released by RC3 on 22 Oct 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo