Emil Gilels—Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 25, 26 (« Les Adieux ») & 27/DG The Original Source vinyl reissue
Emil Gilels (1916 – 1985) was a titan of the piano, directly in line with the three Russian piano gods, so sayeth the great Rachmaninoff, from Anton Rubinstein (1829–1894) to Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) to Gilels.
Gilels was born in Odessa, Russia (now Ukraine) and blossomed as a piano virtuoso at a young age. His tutelage was monitored carefully—Gilels’ teacher said early on, with care, he possesses the abilities of one who is born solely for the purpose of becoming a pianist, and that with the required attention to his development, the USSR would in the future enrich itself with the acquisition of a world-renowned pianist.
After his initial studies at the Odessa Conservatory, he transferred to the Moscow Conservatory to study with the great Heinrich Neuhaus, Russia’s most influential piano teacher. In addition to Gilels, Neuhaus pupils included Sviatoslav Richter and Radu Lupu, and a beloved mentor of mine at Trinity College of Music, London, John Bingham.
Neuhaus’ teachings were legendary and Gilels began a worldwide career soon after graduating; along with Oistrakh, one of the few Soviet artists given carte blanche to travel throughout the world.
Gilels had a massive repertoire and was justly famous for benchmark performances of much of the Western canon, but it is his performances of Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Schumann, Schubert, Brahms, Prokofiev and most of all Beethoven that remains central.
Happily, his recorded output is huge—there are innumerable bootlegs and large CD collections of his RCA/Columbia, EMI, DG and Melodya recordings available on eBay or Amazon. Be aware the last two out-of-print boxes run $500 plus! The smaller RCA/Columbia and EMI boxes are more reasonably priced.
Many of his recordings on CD are legendary—the two Brahms Piano Concertos, his exquisite reading of Grieg’s Lyric Pieces and his Beethoven piano sonatas on DG are especially memorable.
Gilels recorded 27 of Beethoven’s 32 mature piano sonatas for Deutsche Grammophon.
Here we have three of Beethoven’s greatest sonatas, Piano Sonatas Nos. 25, 26 (« Les Adieux ») & 27. They make an exceptionally well-balanced recital for a single sitting. From the opening energetic 3/4 of Sonata No. 25, you’ll revel in Gilels’ energy and flair, always portraying what Evgeny Kissin calls “The Golden Sound”. The notes jump off the page with spontaneity and a beautiful tone. Each chord perfectly balanced with his muscular technique producing the sound—Gilels used his whole upper body to produce the gold more than any pianist I know.
And so important to Beethoven, true dynamics and marks of expression. So the composer’s incessant sf indications (sforzando) always ring true and when Beethoven calls for transformative dynamics such as his “leggieramente” in the 25th’s opening, you get the full musical effect.
The slow movements all have Gilels’ deep introspection. Time stands still, yet the rhythms never flag.
His DG performance of “Les Adieux” is one of my favourite recordings of any piano repertoire by any pianist. Tempos are perfectly judged from the sublime contemplative introduction to Beethoven’s inspired and magical Allegro with those bell-ringing octave Bbs (bar 20/21 see photo below). The same alchemical Gilels treatment goes for all three sonatas.
For my Beethoven benchmarks, there are two full cycles, Artur Schnabel (two volumes of Toshiba mono vinyl), Wilhelm Kempff (DG streaming on Qobuz) and Gilels, with 27 (of the 32) sonatas on DG. With these three giants, you’re covered for the very best approaches, yes, even with Schnabel’s fist fulls of wrong notes.
This new Emil Berliner Studios remastering by Rainer Maillard and Sydney Meyer for DG’s The Original Source under review is like many others in the new series, masterful.
The original recording was released by DG in 1975 and was recorded by Klaus Scheibe in the Johannesstift in Berlin.
Let’s be honest, and Lord knows, I’m consistently critical of DG’s house sound, the halls and the engineering, yet, there are some pretty good orchestral albums with far more successful chamber music (look for a video on my channel soon—@Audiophilia Channel) and piano recordings. Sure, piano is tough to record, but mic placement is easier than an orchestra with a lot less for the mic and engineer to manage. As such, the original LP and CD of this recording were very good; dynamic with lots of shading as executed by Gilels.
Interior of the Johannesstift in Berlin.
As for the pressing, this flat, silent LP gives you all the dynamics, his tone and more. The remastering manages a lot of the inner lines to shine more clearly yet never elbowing to the fore. Gilels’ vaunted balancing is there for you all to hear, but his tone is even more golden if that’s possible. Recordings such as this remind us once again that the Sonatas en masse are probably the greatest music ever conceived by man.
Greedy guts that I am, I just wish Gilels had lived to complete the cycle. In the here and now, he gives you as close to musical perfection as you are likely to hear. And the Emil Berliner team gives us more. Bravo!
Deutsche Grammophon. Released 2023
