Prices shown exclude VAT. (UK tax is not payable for deliveries to United States.)
See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Emil Gilels: Early Recordings Volume 1All tracks recorded in the USSR, 1935-1951
Debussy: | Clair de Lune (from Suite Bergamasque) Trois Nocturnes: Fêtes arr. Borwick | Godowsky: | Renaissance - No. 12, Gigue in E (Loeillet) | Mendelssohn: | Scherzo in E minor, Op. 16 No. 2 Song without Words, Op. 38 No. 6 in A flat major 'Duetto' Song without Words, Op. 38 No. 6 in A flat major 'Duetto' | Mozart: | Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor, K457 | Rameau: | La villageoise Le rappel des oiseaux | Ravel: | Le Tombeau de Couperin: Prelude Le Tombeau de Couperin: Forlane Le Tombeau de Couperin: Toccata | Schumann: | Toccata in C major, Op. 7 Traumes Wirren (Fantasiestucke, Op. 12 No. 7) Der Kontrabandiste, Op. 74 No. 10 arr. C. Tausig | Smetana: | Czech Dances, Book 1, No. 2 Polka in A minor Polka in F major |
Emil Gilels was one of the greatest Russian pianists of the twentieth century, born in Odessa in 1916. The recordings on this first disc of his early recordings, made in the USSR, come from the first stage of Gilels’s career and include his first known recordings from1935. Leopold Godowsky’s arrangement of the Gigue by Jean-Baptiste Loeillet immediately shows the immense power the nineteen-year old Gilels had at the keyboard. His playing, especially in his youth, was fiery, volatile and exciting, and even late in his career it still retained grandeur and sweep of a great master in the Russian tradition. “Gilels had a sense of grandeur tempered by discipline and respect for the text….strong and massive without being harsh…. A fine pianist.” BBC Music Magazine “Here was a real artist, and a real communicator.” BBC Music Magazine “Here, in performance after performance, is the sort of playing that made Rubinstein, on hearing the teenage Gilels in Russia, exclaim, 'if that boy ever comes to America I might as well pack my bags and retire'. Even in dated sound an 'elemental virtuoso gift' and a 'sonority rich in noble metal' are omnipresent. And whether you hear Gilels in his exquisite Rameau, the thunderous brilliance of his Godowsky or in the way his decorations in Smetana's A minor Polka shimmer like the beating of a hummingbird's wings, you will hear a nonpareil pianism. True, in years to come Gilels would find greater depth than his enviably spruce and immaculately turned Mozart conveys, but even here the playing is of an aristocratic distinction and finesse.
All in all these performances is a reminder of this grandest of musical titans. Ward Marston's transfers come up excellently and special thanks go to Judith Rayner for the loan of discs from her priceless collection.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 “…here, in performance after performance, is the sort of playing that made Rubinstein, on hearing the teenage Gilels in Russia, exclaim, "if that boy ever comes to America I might as well pack my bags and retire".” Gramophone Magazine, February 2009 “these are now the transfers of choice for this body of recordings” MusicWeb International | | | (also available to download from $8.75) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
|
|
| |  | Smetana - DreamsKathryn Stott plays Smetana
The key work on this recording is the cycle of six Dreams. Composed after the on-set of deafness; Smetana had had to stop conducting and turn his attentions back to piano composition. ‘Extinguished Happiness’ has something of the Lisztian virtuosity of earlier works, but the brilliance is tinged with reflective melancholy. ‘Consolation’ which follows owes little to Liszt, rather its restless central section looks forward to the more agitated last symphonic poem of My Country. ‘In the salon’, seems to be looking back to youthful contentment while, ‘Before the Castle’ gazes back much further to an image of the nation’s heroic past. The concluding ‘Festivity of Czech country folk’ encompasses both an affectionate glimpse at rural goings on as well as a certain wry humour. The cycle is an excellent example of the extremes of Smetana’s composing style, and an excellent introduction to his piano music. The transcription of Schubert’s song ‘Der Neugierige’ is a brilliant and heartfelt transformation of Schubert’s work. In the same year, and again very much with Liszt’s example in mind, Smetana composed the Etude in C major; a big-boned work; its energy and the extreme demands of its virtuoso writing single it out as one of his most exciting works for piano. Completing the recording are the four Polkas composed in 1877 that comprise Smetana’s first set of Czech Dances and bring to a climax his lifelong association with this popular dance. “Stott's approach is… measured…poetic. In her hands, the showers of notes garlanding the melody in On the Seashore have irresistible beauty, while the Czech dance entitled 'Hulán' ('lancer') has an extraordinary tenderness.” BBC Music Magazine, Proms 2007 ***** | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
|
|
| |
|
