Emil Gilels

“This Beethoven Fourth is one of the most perfect accounts (and perhaps the most perfect account) of the Concerto ever recorded. Poetry and virtuosity are held in perfect poise, with Ludwig and the Philharmonia providing near-ideal accompaniment. Gilels’s Emperor is also a masterful and compelling performance.” Gramophone Magazine

“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.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“This is an outstanding performance of Brahms's G minor Piano Quartet, unforgettable for its spontaneity and uninhibited Romantic warmth and verve. The booklet reminds us that this 1971 recording made history since 'a contract between an artist from the Soviet Union and a Western label was a sensational event in cultural diplomacy'.
Reproduced with respect for the sound quality of its time, the playing has a glowing strength and intensity throughout. Only in the first movement's opulent textures does the keyboard occasionally dominate. From Emil Gilels we're also given a maturely unhurried, essentially 'inward' recording of Brahms's youthful Ballades.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Gilels's anthology of 20 of the Lyric Pieces… is in a class of its own and an absolute must! Whatever else you get for your library, you have to have this - it sets standards which few others have approached.” BBC Music Magazine, Proms 2007

“Here, surely, is a classic recording, one of calibre and status for all time.
Rarely can a great artist have declared his love with such touching candour. By his own admission Gilels discovered in Grieg's Lyric Pieces a 'whole world of intimate feeling' and at the sessions where these were recorded fought tirelessly to capture their intricate mix of innocence and experience. The results are of an unblemished purity, grace and contained eloquence. He brings the same insight and concentration to these apparent trifles as he did to towering masterpieces of the classic repertoire.
The programme proceeds chronologically and one can appreciate the gradual but marked development in Grieg's harmonic and expressive language – from the folk song inspired early works to the more progressive and adventurous later ones. Gilels's fingerwork is exquisite and the sense of total involvement with the music almost religious in feeling.
Never can Debussy's sniping estimate of Grieg', 'a pink bonbon filled with snow' (or DG's dreary accompanying notes), have seemed wider of the mark. The recordings remain as impeccable as the playing. This is a disc for everyone's desert island.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“An unmissable selection of Grieg's delightful Lyric Pieces...With Gilels we are in the presence of a great keyboard master whose characterisation and control of colour and articulation are wholly remarkable.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“These are memorable versions of two of the mainstays of the German classical concerto repertoire. The sound is excellent throughout and audience noise is minimal, in no way, intrusive and we can relish the spontaneity of a live event. Booklet notes are in Japanese only, however, but a profile of the orchestra is given in English.” MusicWeb International, April 2013