On October 19th 1916, Emil Gilels, a Soviet concert pianist (Brussels Competition, 1st prize, 1938), was born in Odessa, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) (d. 1985). Fortunately, a huge number of Gilels’ performances remained on record. For future historians, there is no end to their work. It is possible, for example, to follow how his interpretations changes many years away; to consider how “presented” live recorded from a concert; or, especially in the studio, how the same piano concert sounds not only in different years but with different orchestras and conductors.
In 1938, Gilels’s colleague A. Ioheles wrote in article about a young pianist that Gilels had not yet played Beethoven’s late sonatas, but in two or three years he would “be able to impress his listeners with them”. How tempting it would be to immediately justify such a prediction, but no! Gilels seemed to think (for reasons he was the only one who knew) that the time had not yet come and he was “silent”, nothing could change his intentions. Long years have passed before all of life Gilels’s performance of Beethoven’s 29th Sonata, what the event it was! The last entry he made was Beethoven’s 30 and 31st sonatas. Here it is: Gilels’ decision, now, not before! In his artistic inner world, we admire impeccable honesty.
Gilels’s video recordings of Beethoven’s sonatas
Get acquainted with an interesting historical document – a letter from Eugene Ormandy to Emil Gilels.
