EMIL GILELS AT HIS BEST - TSCHAIKOWSKY - NEW YORK 1969

Peter Tschaikowsky [1840-1893] Piano Concerto No. 1 in Bb minor I. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso II. Andantino semplice III. Allegro con fuoco Emil Gilels, piano ❤️ Symphony of the Air Alfred Wallenstein, conductor _________________________________________________________________ Following his triumph at Brussels, a scheduled tour and American debut at the 1939 New York World's Fair was aborted because of the outbreak of the Second World War. Sergei Rachmaninoff, living in exile from Russia, had heard of the reputation of Gilels, and began to listen to Gilels' radio performances. Rachmaninoff subsequently regarded Gilels as his pianistic successor, and sent him his medal and diploma. This medal, engraved with the profile of Anton Rubinstein, and the diploma were once presented to Rachmaninoff to symbolize his succession from Rubinstein, and Rachmaninoff himself added Gilels’ name to the document. Gilels treasured these relics all his life. In 1944, Gilels premiered Prokofiev's 8th Piano Sonata. During World War II, Gilels entertained Soviet troops with morale-boosting open-air recitals on the frontline, of which film archive footage exists. In 1945, he formed a chamber music trio with the violinist Leonid Kogan and the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. Gilels was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1946. After the war, he toured the Soviet Bloc countries of Eastern Europe as a soloist. He also gave two-piano recitals with Yakov Flier, as well as concerts with his violinist sister, Elizaveta. In 1952, he became a professor at the Moscow Conservatory, where his students included Valery Afanassiev, Irina Zaritskaya, Marina Goglidze-Mdivani, Irina Smorodinova [a Laureate of the International Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud piano competition in Paris], Igor Zhukov, Vladimir Blok and Felix Gottlieb. He was chair of the jury of the International Tchaikovsky Competition at the inaugural competition in 1958, which awarded first prize to Van Cliburn. He presided over the competition for many years. Gilels was one of the first Soviet artists, along with David Oistrakh, allowed to travel and give concerts in the West. His American debut was in October 1955, with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy. His British debut was in 1952 at the Royal Albert Hall. Gilels made his Salzburg Festival debut in 1969 with a piano recital of Weber, Prokofiev and Beethoven at the Mozarteum, followed by a performance of Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto with George Szell and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1981, Gilels suffered a heart attack after a recital at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and suffered declining health thereafter. He died unexpectedly during a medical checkup in Moscow on 14 October 1985, only a few days before his 69th birthday. Sviatoslav Richter, who knew Gilels well and was a fellow-student in the class of Heinrich Neuhaus at the Moscow Conservatory, believed that Gilels was killed accidentally when a drug was wrongly injected during a routine checkup, at the Kremlin hospital. However, Danish composer and writer Karl Aage Rasmussen, in his biography of Richter, denies this possibility and contends that it was just a false rumour. [Wikipedia] _______________________________________________________________________________________________ ..nur ein Jahr später hörte ich den Künstler live in Deutschland. Er spielte am 07.05.1970 in Bonn zum 200. Geburtstag von Beethoven. Das Programm war gewaltig: 07.05.1970 Bonn, Beethovenhalle Solo Piano Recital Emil Gilels Programm: Beethoven Sonata No. 21 in C major Opus 53 (Waldstein) Sonata No. 28 in A major Opus 101 12 Variations on a Russian Dance in A major WoO 71 6 Variations on a Theme from The Ruins of Athens in D major Opus 76 32 Variations in C minor WoO 80 Nun wußte ich von meiner Mutter, die recht musikalisch war, dass sie Gilels nicht sehr schätzte, weil er ihren Geschmack nicht traf mit Beethoven, sie nannte ihn immer 'der Soldat' wegen seines virtuosen Zugriffs und sie meinte, dass das nicht zu Beethoven passe. Ich hingegen war überzeugt von der Größe dieses Pianisten und widersprach, obwohl ich fast noch ein Kind war, meiner Mutter regelmäßig. Er bachte die Sonaten/Variationen in diesem Festkonzert fantastisch zu Ende, meine Mutter klatschte sehr mäßig begeistert und nun kam eine Zugabe. Er setzte zum ersten Satz der Mondscheinsonate an, die Gesichtszüge meiner lieben Mama hellten auf, weil sie das Stück so liebte und meine verdunkelten sich, da ich diese Sonate damals selber spielte und war enttäuscht. Gilels war an diesem Abend derart inspiriert, dass er glatt vergaß, nur den ersten Satz zuzugeben, so dass er kurzerhand die ganze Sonate spielte. Ich war überrascht von dieser großen Leistung und wieder mit ihm versöhnt und meine Mutter applaudierte...äußerst begeistert. Zufrieden und mit dem Bewußtsein, etwas Großartiges erlebt zu haben, fuhr ich mit meinen Eltern wieder nach Hause. berlinzerberus by berlinzerberus