Emil Gilels - Beethoven Sonatas

Label: Deutsche Grammophon

Cat No: 4776360

Barcode: 0028947763604

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 9

Genre: Instrumental

Release Date: 13th November 2006

This product has now been deleted. Information is for reference only.

Works

Beethoven, Ludwig van

Eroica Variations, op.35
Piano Sonata no.2 in A major, op.2 no.2
Piano Sonata no.3 in C major, op.2 no.3
Piano Sonata no.4 in E flat major, op.7
Piano Sonata no.5 in C minor, op.10 no.1
Piano Sonata no.6 in F major, op.10 no.2
Piano Sonata no.7 in D major, op.10 no.3
Piano Sonata no.8 in C minor, op.13 'Pathetique'
Piano Sonata no.11 in B flat major, op.22
Piano Sonata no.12 in A flat major, op.26 'Marche funebre'
Piano Sonata no.13 in E flat major, op.27 no.1 'Quasi una fantasia'
Piano Sonata no.14 in C sharp minor, op.27 no.2 'Moonlight'
Piano Sonata no.15 in D major, op.28 'Pastorale'
Piano Sonata no.16 in G major, op.31 no.1
Piano Sonata no.17 in D minor, op.31 no.2 'Tempest'
Piano Sonata no.18 in E flat major, op.31 no.3 'The Hunt'
Piano Sonata no.19 in G minor, op.49 no.1
Piano Sonata no.20 in G major, op.49 no.2
Piano Sonata no.21 in C major, op.53 'Waldstein'
Piano Sonata no.23 in F minor, op.57 'Appassionata'
Piano Sonata no.25 in G major, op.79
Piano Sonata no.26 in E flat major, op.81a 'Les Adieux'
Piano Sonata no.27 in E minor, op.90
Piano Sonata no.28 in A major, op.101
Piano Sonata no.29 in B flat major, op.106 'Hammerklavier'
Piano Sonata no.30 in E major, op.109
Piano Sonata no.31 in A flat major, op.110
Piano Sonatas (3) (Kurfursten Sonatas), WoO47

» no.1 in E flat major

» no.2 in F minor

Artists

Emil Gilels (piano)

Works

Beethoven, Ludwig van

» no.1 in E flat major

» no.2 in F minor

Artists

Emil Gilels (piano)

About

Though left unfinished at this death, Emil Gilels’ Beethoven cycle is considered one of the most distinguished of our time.

“One can listen to Gilels’s Beethoven for hours on end without wishing a single passage to be differently phrased or moulded.” (Sunday Times)

“He was in many ways an ideal Beethoven pianist. As it is, we simply have some of the best Beethoven recordings of recent times” – David Patrick Stearns (Ovation)

“…there is indeed something miraculous about a touch so precise, so rapid, and yet so distinctive; a sensibility which can shape, colour and chord the music with so much fine precision. In a word, Gilels’s astounding technique has been used with an alchemist’s skill, transmuted and purified to the ends of the greatest art. Always, Gilels’s virtuosity leads one back to the music.” – Richard Osborne, Gramophone, 1979

Reviews

Throughout, [Gilels] manages to make one believe that his is exactly the tempo giusto [...] Among the named sonatas the Appassionata has been hailed by us as being among the finest ever made, and much the same must be said of the Waldstein; it has a technical perfection denied even to Schnabel, and though in the slow movement the latter found special depths, Gilels is hardly less searching and profound. [...] Gilels's Hammerklavier is a performance of supreme integrity: Olympian, titanic, subtle, imperious, one of the finest accounts ever recorded. [...] No. 31 in A flat is also given a performance of real stature. Even when Gilels storms the greatest heights in the closing fugue, no fortissimo ever sounds percussive or strained. Such is his magic that doubts are silenced. Altogether this set is a unique achievement [...]

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