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Emil Gilels - The Seattle Recital (2016)

Posted By: Designol

Date: 16 May 2025 21:40:58

This release features a previously-unreleased recording of pianist Emil Gilels, captured live in an acclaimed 1964 Seattle recital. With the exception of a single work, this recital has never before been made available to the general public and is now being released for the first time. Released in time to celebrate the pianist’s 100th anniversary, the recital includes works by Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Prokofiev, Stravinsky and more.

Emil Gilels was one of the first Soviet musicians to be allowed to perform regularly in the west after the second world war, and made the first of 15 tours of the US in 1955. This recital was given in the Seattle Opera House in December 1964. It was recorded privately and is now released in full on disc for the first time, marking the centenary of the pianist’s birth later this month. The programme is a typical cross-section of Gilels’ vast repertoire, moving from Beethoven’s Waldstein Sonata, Op 53, to Ravel’s Alborada del Gracioso via Chopin, Prokofiev and Debussy, with party pieces by Stravinsky and Bach (in a Siloti arrangement) added as encores.

The performances take a while to settle down. Anyone who knows Gilels’ later studio recording of the Waldstein might find this one rather stiff and driven, while the early Chopin that follows – the Variations on La Ci Darem la Mano from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro – is a bit perfunctory. It’s with a fiercely concentrated performance of Prokofiev’s Third Sonata that the intensity begins to rise; after that, the first set of Debussy’s Images has real backbone and rhythmic focus, and more Prokofiev, a selection of the Visions Fugitives, become searingly vivid snapshots. The recording is decent enough, and the sense of occasion palpable, although the piano is beginning to sound a bit the worse for wear by the end.

Review by Andrew Clements, The Guardian

Review by Patrick Rucker, Gramophone

During the course of 28 years beginning in 1955, the great Soviet pianist Emil Gilels toured North America 12 times. We now have a previously unreleased live recording of his recital at the Seattle Opera House in 1964 that provides a vivid snapshot of his unique, ever-evolving artistry.

Gilels tended to be a big-picture player, objective, not given to lingering over details and generally preferring very quick tempi. Few pianists would risk opening a recital with the Waldstein, and Gilels’s performance suffers from such a daring gesture. It takes a few measures for the recording engineer to adjust for a more focused sound, but essentially nothing is lost. Tempi throughout tend to be pressured. Notes are dropped and occasionally automatic pilot takes over. The prevailing overdrive weakens the emotional contrast between the Rondo’s moderate allegretto and the prestissimo coda, which could scarcely go faster and remain audible. But this is the weakest element of an otherwise intriguing programme.

Chopin’s ‘Là ci darem la mano’ Variations are both virtuoso and beguiling. Gilels captures the whimsy of the introduction, exploiting its mercurial mood shifts to make arrival at Mozart’s duet like stepping into the sunshine. Each of the five variations is imbued with a distinct character, building to a polonaise finale of extraordinary brilliance. It is a perfect showcase for Gilel’s justly admired pianistic finesse.

The transition from young Chopin’s Warsaw to Prokofiev’s St Petersburg in 1917 is abrupt, surely as Gilels intended. Here speed has a salutary effect, pointing up the Third Sonata’s larger shapes and overall structure to fine advantage while rendering the lyricism of more moderate sections all the more poignant. Following this surge of burgeoning energy, the first book of Debussy’s Images looms like an oasis. The guileless simplicity of ‘Hommage à Rameau’ achieves a touching eloquence. A return to Prokofiev, with six of the Visions fugitives, serves as a palate-cleanser. A bracingly piquant ‘Alborada del gracioso’ concludes the formal programme. Decidedly more Russian than French, the vibrant colours of Benois and Bakst nevertheless suit the piece well.

If posterity has favoured Richter over Gilels, that doesn’t diminish the pleasure of revisiting the unique strengths and versatility of this impressive pianist.

Review by Patrick Rucker, Gramophone

Emil Gilels at Allmusic
Emil Gilels at Wiki

Tracklist:

Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No.21 'Waldstein'
01. I. Allegro con brio (10:32)
02. II. Introduzione. Adagio molto (03:20)
03. III. Rondo. Allegretto moderato … (09:01)

04. Frederic Chopin - Variations on 'La ci darem la mano' from Mozart's Don Giovanni (15:07)

05. Sergei Prokofiev - Piano Sonata No.3 (06:53)

Claude Debussy - Images I
06. I. Reflets dans l'eau. Andantino molto (04:13)
07. II. Hommage a Rameau. Lent et grave (05:12)
08. III. Mouvement. Anime (03:18)

Sergei Prokofiev - Visions fugitives
09. I. Lentamente (01:02)
10. III. Allegretto (00:53)
11. V. Molto giocoso (00:19)
12. XI. Con vivacita (00:59)
13. X. Ridicolosamente (00:46)
14. XVII. Poetico (01:28)

15. Maurice Ravel - Miroirs - IV. Alborada del gracioso (05:47)

16. Igor Stravinsky - Trois mouvements de 'Petrouchka' - I. Danse russe (02:37)

17. J.S. Bach/Siloti - Prelude BWV 855a (03:09)

EAC log

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 4 from 7. December 2014

EAC extraction logfile from 8. October 2016, 12:07

Emil Gilels / The Seattle Recital

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==== Log checksum 4234C7AEE3DE0530ABF82355D7E2C1CE7A4A0B22ED78C77854557264EB8CD16B ====

DR log

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2016-10-09 14:04:31

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Emil Gilels / The Seattle Recital
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR13 -4.79 dB -22.56 dB 10:33 01-Beethoven - Piano Sonata No.21 'Waldstein' - I. Allegro con brio
DR14 -12.34 dB -32.29 dB 3:20 02-Beethoven - Piano Sonata No.21 'Waldstein' - II. Introduzione. Adagio molto
DR12 -3.44 dB -20.67 dB 9:02 03-Beethoven - Piano Sonata No.21 'Waldstein' - III. Rondo. Allegretto moderato …
DR13 -4.19 dB -22.60 dB 15:08 04-Chopin - Variations on 'La ci darem la mano' from Mozart's Don Giovanni
DR10 -4.21 dB -19.19 dB 6:53 05-Prokofiev - Piano Sonata No.3
DR13 -4.64 dB -25.15 dB 4:13 06-Debussy - Images I - I. Reflets dans l'eau. Andantino molto
DR13 -4.92 dB -24.38 dB 5:13 07-Debussy - Images I - II. Hommage a Rameau. Lent et grave
DR10 -5.11 dB -20.10 dB 3:19 08-Debussy - Images I - III. Mouvement. Anime
DR10 -21.18 dB -37.15 dB 1:02 09-Prokofiev - Visions fugitives - I. Lentamente
DR11 -15.26 dB -30.50 dB 0:53 10-Prokofiev - Visions fugitives - III. Allegretto
DR9 -6.98 dB -19.15 dB 0:20 11-Prokofiev - Visions fugitives - V. Molto giocoso
DR13 -14.86 dB -32.09 dB 1:00 12-Prokofiev - Visions fugitives - XI. Con vivacita
DR12 -6.16 dB -24.26 dB 0:47 13-Prokofiev - Visions fugitives - X. Ridicolosamente
DR10 -8.65 dB -26.00 dB 1:29 14-Prokofiev - Visions fugitives - XVII. Poetico
DR11 -4.30 dB -20.34 dB 5:48 15-Ravel - Miroirs - IV. Alborada del gracioso
DR12 -0.50 dB -16.26 dB 2:37 16-Stravinsky - Trois mouvements de 'Petrouchka' - I. Danse russe
DR13 -4.56 dB -23.88 dB 3:09 17-Bach/Siloti - Prelude BWV 855a
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 17
Official DR value: DR12

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 408 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

All thanks to original releaser

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