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.
