A six CD set of unstated
provenance, recorded between the years
1961 and 1984. Let’s try to get some
bearings. The Concerto performances
probably derive from the 1976 cycle
with Masur, the First and Second Concertos
of which were previously (but are no
longer) available on Revelation RV 10040.
I’m not aware that Revelation released
the remainder – but the Gilels discography
is not unlike the Richter in that respect;
things keep cropping up. The First and
Second are definitively stated to be
19th December 1976 on the
back of Brilliant’s jewel case. As for
the remainder, since I don’t have access
to the Revelation, I have to pose a
series of rhetorical questions and interested,
and better-informed, collectors should
make their judgements accordingly. Is
the D major Op. 10/3 Sonata the same
one as released on Revelation RV 10029
and there dated as 20 and 21st
October 1980? If, as seems likely it
is, then the companion sonatas are here
as well, Opp. 79, 81a and 90. The Pathétique
is dated by Brilliant as December 1968,
the Moonlight, December 1970 and the
Appassionata, January 1961. I don’t
believe they’ve been released by Revelation.
Op. 26 is dated 1976, the year after
a performance released by Doremi (which
was the same year as his commercial
DG recording of it). There’s also a
Music and Arts performance from 1977.
Confused? Tangled, certainly. Op. 31/1
replicates Op. 26 as far as Doremi is
concerned. As for the Hammerklavier
he recorded it for DG in 1982 but this
one dates from 1984 – the same year
he re-recorded it for BMG/Melodiya.
Obviously there’s a
deal of discographical paperwork yet
to be done to untangle the exact dates
and locations of these titanic performances.
In the absence of definitive answers,
what of the performances? I don’t think
one would put the Masur cycle on the
same pedestal as one places his individual
recordings elsewhere but they are powerfully
impressive nevertheless. The first two
concertos, fine as they are, will not
efface the 1957 Vandernoot recordings
on EMI (for all that the conductor wasn’t
a "name" it would have been
intriguing to have had a cycle from
him with Gilels). The Third has a rather
aggressive Gilels cadenza and some over-smooth
accents from Masur (the dropped notes
from the pianist are a corollary of
his commitment and convinced advocacy).
The recording tends to highlight the
booming timpani as well and all in all
this clearly won’t stand above Cluytens
and Szell – the commercial EMI not the
two other live recordings (though other
survivals include Kondrashin, Gauk,
Sanderling – twice - and Karajan). Gilels
was a notable exponent of the Fourth,
one of the greatest of his generation.
With Masur he is lucid, powerful, noble
and animated. With Sanderling and Ludwig
he was even more. As for the Fifth we
have some finely flexible phrasing from
Masur and a grave slow movement though
the "timing" to the finale
isn’t as well executed as Kempff/Leitner,
but then whose is? His best performances
of it remain those with Ludwig and Sanderling.
The Sonatas are frequently
magnetic and heroic. Like Solomon he
never lived to complete the cycle but
there are numerous highlights from the
live performances preserved here. The
sound, by the way, varies according
to age and location; the audiences are
generally quiet – a few coughs aside
– but sometimes the raw recordings impart
an edge and an aggression that would
have been better cushioned in a more
sympathetic acoustic. The Pathétique
has storming playing in the Allegro
di molto section as Gilels catches the
torrent of the music. By contrast his
slow movement is plainly and simply
phrased, with the left hand nagging
away; aloof but concentrated. The finale
has patrician drive. The Moonlight opens
quite but not remarkably slowly (not
the tempo of Kempff or Solomon) whilst
he takes the second movement as a real
Allegretto. The finale is driving and
intensely exciting albeit the recording
emphasises the power of Gilels’s chording
to an uncomfortable degree. The Appassionata
from 1961 has blazing intensity and
tension; the highlights are the chordal
weight in the Andante con moto and the
sense of anchored profundity here and
elsewhere. At times there are moments
of pre-echo on the tape. What one finds
in his Hammerklavier is intense integrity
and imperious control. There is grandeur
and power but also clarity of texture
and refinement of detail. His speeds
in the outer movements are relatively
spacious but the rhythmic grip he exerts
is constant and unremitting. I’d be
tempted to call this playing Olympian
but for the inappropriateness of the
word when confronted by Gilels’ huge
and animating humanity.
These are just the
thoughts that come to mind listening
to his Beethoven. It’s hardly possible
to do full justice to the set but to
note those moments that seem to me to
be the most remarkable from amongst
many. The box comes in a slipcase and
there are no notes. The price is absurdly
cheap whatever the provenance and will
provide, however imperfectly in places,
some semblance of Gilels’s greatness
as a Beethovenian.
Jonathan Woolf
Emil Gilels (piano) 