Emil Gilels: Early Recordings Volume 1: All tracks recorded in the USSR, 1935-1951

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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... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Release Date: 29th Sep 2008
Catalogue No: 8111350
Label: Naxos
Series: Historical, Great Pianists
Length: 73 minutes

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Excerpt, Rameau: Suite in E minor from Pièces de clavecin (1724, revised 1731)

Work length4:44

$2.00

$2.60

Emil Gilels

Pieces de clavecin: Suite in E Minor: X. La Villageoise (Rondeau)

Track length2:07

$1.00

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Pieces de clavecin: Suite in E Minor: V. Le Rappel des oiseaux

Track length2:37

$1.00

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Godowsky: Renaissance, Book 2

Work length2:04

$1.00

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Emil Gilels

XII. Gigue in E Major (Loeillet)

Track length2:04

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Mozart: Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor, K457

Work length22:20

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Emil Gilels

I. Molto allegro

Track length8:17

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II. Adagio

Track length9:18

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III. Allegro assai

Track length4:45

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Schumann: Toccata in C major, Op. 7

Work length4:42

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Emil Gilels

Excerpt, Schumann: Fantasiestücke, Op. 12

Work length2:17

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Emil Gilels

No. 7, Traumes Wirren

Track length2:17

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Schumann: Spanisches Liederspiel, Op. 74, No. 10. Der Kontrabandiste

Work length1:46

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Emil Gilels

Spanisches Liederspiel, Op. 74: No. 10, Der Kontrabandiste (Arr. C. Tausig)

Track length1:46

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Excerpt, Mendelssohn: 3 Fantasies (or Caprices) Op. 16

Work length2:17

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Emil Gilels

No. 2, Scherzo. Presto

Track length2:17

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Excerpt, Mendelssohn: Songs without Words, Book 3 (6), Op. 38

Work length3:09

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Emil Gilels

No. 18 in A-Flat Major, Op. 38, No. 6, "Duetto"

Track length3:09

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Smetana: České tance (Czech Dances) for piano, Book 1

Work length5:01

$2.00

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Emil Gilels

Czech Dances, Book I: No. 2, Polka in A Minor

Track length2:19

$1.00

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Czech Dances, Book I: No. 3, Polka in F Major

Track length2:42

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Excerpt, Debussy: Suite Bergamasque

Work length4:30

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Emil Gilels

Suite bergamasque: III. Clair de lune

Track length4:30

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Debussy: Nocturnes, No. 2. Fêtes

Work length6:06

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Emil Gilels

Nocturnes: No. 2, Fetes (Arr. L. Borwick for piano)

Track length6:06

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Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin

Work length14:06

$3.00

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Emil Gilels

I. Prelude

Track length3:08

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III. Forlane

Track length6:51

$1.00

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VI. Toccata

Track length4:07

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About
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About

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

Reviews

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'. 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.

February 2009

…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".

these are now the transfers of choice for this body of recordings

Emil Gilels: Early Recordings Volume 1

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