Emil Gilels
Encyclopedia
Emil Grigoryevich Gilels was a Soviet
pianist
, widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.
His last name is sometimes transliterated Hilels.
, Russian Empire
(now part of Ukraine
) to a Jewish family with no direct musical background that nevertheless owned a piano. He began studying the piano at the age of five under Yakov Tkach, who was a student of the French pianists Raoul Pugno
and Alexander Villoing Thus, through Tkach, Gilels had a pedagogical genealogy stretching back to Frédéric Chopin
, via Pugno, and to Muzio Clementi
, via Villoing. Tkach was a stern disciplinarian who emphasized scales and studies. Gilels later credited this strict training for establishing the foundation of his technique.
Gilels made his public debut at the age of 12 in June 1929 with a well-received program of Beethoven
, Scarlatti
, Chopin
, and Schumann
. In 1930, Gilels entered the Odessa Conservatory where he was coached by Berta Reingbald, whom Gilels credited as a formative influence. Also in Odessa Conservatory Gilels studied special harmony
and polyphony
with professor Mykola Vilinsky
.
After graduating from the Odessa Conservatory in 1935, he moved to Moscow
where he studied under Heinrich Neuhaus
until 1937. Neuhaus was a student of Aleksander Michałowski, who had studied with Carl Mikuli, Chopin's student, assistant and editor.
A year later he was awarded first prize at the 1938
Ysaÿe International Festival
in Brussels
by a distinguished jury whose members included Arthur Rubinstein
, Samuil Feinberg
, Emil von Sauer
, Ignaz Friedman
, Walter Gieseking
, Robert Casadesus
, and Arthur Bliss
. His winning performances were of both volumes of the Brahms
Paganini Variations, and the Liszt
-Busoni
Fantasie on Two Motives from Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro". The other competitors included Moura Lympany
in second place, and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
in seventh place.
Following his triumph at Brussels, a scheduled American
debut at the 1939 New York World's Fair
was aborted because of the outbreak of the Second World War. During the War, 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 (his brother-in-law) and the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich
. Gilels was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1946.
Gilels had a stable and happy family life, marrying Fariset (Lala) Hutsistova, a graduate of Moscow Conservatoire, in 1947. He lived with her all his life; they had a daughter Elena, an excellent pianist who graduated from Flier’s class of Moscow Conservatoire. She played in an ensemble with her father. Among Mozart’s double Es-dur concerto, Schubert’s f-moll Fantasy played with Elena and recorded (conductors Rudolf Barshai
and Karl Böhm) were included into Gilels’s masterpieces.
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.
Gilels was one of the first Soviet artists, along with David Oistrakh
, allowed to travel and concertize in the West
. His delayed American
debut in 1955 playing Tchaikovsky
's Piano Concerto No. 1
in Philadelphia with Eugene Ormandy
was a great success. His British debut in 1959 met with similar acclaim.
In 1952, he became a professor at the Moscow Conservatory
, where his students included Valery Afanassiev
, Marina Goglidze-Mdivani
and Felix Gottlieb. As chair of the jury of the International Tchaikovsky Competition
at the sensational inaugural event in 1958, he awarded first prize to Van Cliburn
. He presided over the competition for many years.
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. Although paraded the world over as a Soviet loyalist, Gilels would occasionally confide his torments under the system to sympathetic fellow-artists
.
In 1981, he 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 an incompetent doctor at the Kremlin hospital inappropriately gave him an injection of a drug during a routine checkup.
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.
He had an extensive repertoire
, from baroque to late Romantic and 20th century classical composers. His interpretations of the central German-Austrian classics formed the core of his repertoire, in particular Beethoven
, Brahms
, and Schumann
; but he was equally illuminative with Scarlatti
and twentieth-century composers such as Debussy
, Rachmaninoff
, and Prokofiev
. His Liszt
was also first-class, and his recordings of the Hungarian Rhapsody
No. 9 and the Sonata in B minor
have acquired classic status in some circles.
Gilels premiered Prokofiev's 8th Piano Sonata
, dedicated to Mira Mendelssohn, on December 30, 1944, in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.
He was in the midst of completing a recording cycle of Beethoven's piano sonatas for the German record company Deutsche Grammophon
when he died. His recording of the "Hammerklavier" Sonata
received a Gramophone Award in 1984.
Gilels recorded with his daughter Elena Gilels, including Mozart's double piano concerto
with Karl Böhm and the Vienna Philharmonic and Schubert's Fantasie in F minor for piano duet
. He also made some outstanding chamber recordings with the violinist Leonid Kogan and the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich
.
Foreign
* live.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
, widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.
His last name is sometimes transliterated Hilels.
Biography
Gilels was born in OdessaOdessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
, Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
(now part of Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
) to a Jewish family with no direct musical background that nevertheless owned a piano. He began studying the piano at the age of five under Yakov Tkach, who was a student of the French pianists Raoul Pugno
Raoul Pugno
Stéphane Raoul Pugno was a French composer, teacher, organist, and pianist known for his playing of Mozart's works.Raoul Pugno was born in Paris. He made his debut at the age of six, and with the help of Prince Poniatowski he was then able to study at the École Niedermeyer. He then went to the...
and Alexander Villoing Thus, through Tkach, Gilels had a pedagogical genealogy stretching back to Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
, via Pugno, and to Muzio Clementi
Muzio Clementi
Muzio Clementi was a celebrated composer, pianist, pedagogue, conductor, music publisher, editor, and piano manufacturer. Born in Italy, he spent most of his life in England. He is best known for his piano sonatas, and his collection of piano studies, Gradus ad Parnassum...
, via Villoing. Tkach was a stern disciplinarian who emphasized scales and studies. Gilels later credited this strict training for establishing the foundation of his technique.
Gilels made his public debut at the age of 12 in June 1929 with a well-received program of Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, Scarlatti
Domenico Scarlatti
Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti was an Italian composer who spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. He is classified as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical style...
, Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
, and Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
. In 1930, Gilels entered the Odessa Conservatory where he was coached by Berta Reingbald, whom Gilels credited as a formative influence. Also in Odessa Conservatory Gilels studied special harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
and polyphony
Polyphony
In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
with professor Mykola Vilinsky
Mykola Vilinsky
Mykola Vilinsky was a Ukrainian composer and a professor at the Odessa and Kiev Conservatories.He was descended from a Ukrainian family of hereditary nobles...
.
After graduating from the Odessa Conservatory in 1935, he moved to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
where he studied under Heinrich Neuhaus
Heinrich Neuhaus
Heinrich Gustavovich Neuhaus was a Soviet pianist and pedagogue of German extraction. He taught at the Moscow Conservatory from 1922 to 1964. He was made a People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1956...
until 1937. Neuhaus was a student of Aleksander Michałowski, who had studied with Carl Mikuli, Chopin's student, assistant and editor.
A year later he was awarded first prize at the 1938
II Queen Elisabeth Music Competition
The second edition of the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition, then known as Eugène Ysaÿe Competition, took place in Brussels from May 15 - 31 1938, and was the inaugural edition of its piano competition...
Ysaÿe International Festival
Queen Elisabeth Music Competition
The Queen Elisabeth Music Competition, a founding member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions has been, since its foundation, considered the world over to be one of the most prestigious and most difficult. It is devoted to violin , piano , to composition and to singing...
in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
by a distinguished jury whose members included Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein KBE was a Polish-American pianist. He received international acclaim for his performances of the music of a variety of composers...
, Samuil Feinberg
Samuil Feinberg
Samuil Yevgenyevich Feinberg was a Russian and Soviet composer and pianist. Raised in Moscow, he entered the Moscow Conservatory and studied under Alexander Goldenweiser. He is most remembered today for his complete recording of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier and many transcriptions. Feinberg...
, Emil von Sauer
Emil von Sauer
Emil Georg Conrad von Sauer was a notable German composer, pianist, score editor, and music teacher. He was a pupil of Franz Liszt and one of the most distinguished pianists of his generation...
, Ignaz Friedman
Ignaz Friedman
Ignaz Friedman Ignaz Friedman Ignaz Friedman (also spelled by languages Ignace or Ignacy; exactly Solomon (Salomon) Isaac Freudman(n), (February 13, 1882January 26, 1948) was a Polish pianist and composer. Critics (e.g. Harold C. Schonberg) and colleagues (e.g...
, Walter Gieseking
Walter Gieseking
Walter Wilhelm Gieseking was a French-born German pianist and composer.-Biography:Born in Lyon, France, the son of a German doctor and lepidopterist, Gieseking first started playing the piano at the age of four, but without formal instruction...
, Robert Casadesus
Robert Casadesus
Robert Casadesus was a renowned 20th-century French pianist and composer. He was the most prominent member of a famous musical family, being the nephew of Henri Casadesus and Marius Casadesus, husband of Gaby Casadesus, and father of Jean Casadesus.-Biography:Robert Casadesus was born in Paris...
, and Arthur Bliss
Arthur Bliss
Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, CH, KCVO was an English composer and conductor.Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army...
. His winning performances were of both volumes of the Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
Paganini Variations, and the Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
-Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni was an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.-Biography:...
Fantasie on Two Motives from Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro". The other competitors included Moura Lympany
Moura Lympany
Dame Moura Lympany DBE was an English concert pianist.She was born as Mary Gertrude Johnstone at Saltash, Cornwall. Her father was an army officer who had served in World War I and her mother originally taught her the piano...
in second place, and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli was a virtuoso Italian classical pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, as well as one of the most important Italian pianists along with Ferruccio Busoni and Maurizio Pollini.-Biography:Born in Brescia, Italy, he began...
in seventh place.
Following his triumph at Brussels, a scheduled American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
debut at the 1939 New York World's Fair
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
was aborted because of the outbreak of the Second World War. During the War, 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 (his brother-in-law) and the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, KBE , known to close friends as Slava, was a Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. He is widely considered to have been the greatest cellist of the second half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest of...
. Gilels was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1946.
Gilels had a stable and happy family life, marrying Fariset (Lala) Hutsistova, a graduate of Moscow Conservatoire, in 1947. He lived with her all his life; they had a daughter Elena, an excellent pianist who graduated from Flier’s class of Moscow Conservatoire. She played in an ensemble with her father. Among Mozart’s double Es-dur concerto, Schubert’s f-moll Fantasy played with Elena and recorded (conductors Rudolf Barshai
Rudolf Barshai
Rudolf Borisovich Barshai was a Soviet/Russian conductor and violist.Barshai was born in Stanitsa Lobinskaya, Krasnodar Krai, and studied at the Moscow Conservatory under Lev Tseitlin and Vadim Borisovsky. He performed as a soloist as well as together with Sviatoslav Richter, David Oistrakh, and...
and Karl Böhm) were included into Gilels’s masterpieces.
After the war, he toured the Soviet Bloc countries of Eastern Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
as a soloist. He also gave two-piano recitals with Yakov Flier
Yakov Flier
Yakov Vladimirovich Flier was a Russian concert pianist and teacher.Flier was born in Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Russia. He studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory with Konstantin Igumnov. By the 1930s he had become one of the most prominent Russian concert pianists...
, as well as concerts with his violinist sister, Elizaveta.
Gilels was one of the first Soviet artists, along with David Oistrakh
David Oistrakh
David Fyodorovich Oistrakh , , David Fiodorović Ojstrakh, ; – October 24, 1974, was a Soviet violinist....
, allowed to travel and concertize in the West
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
. His delayed American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
debut in 1955 playing Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
's Piano Concerto No. 1
Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)
The Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23 was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky between November 1874 and February 1875. It was revised in the summer of 1879 and again in December 1888. The first version received heavy criticism from Nikolai Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky's desired pianist....
in Philadelphia with Eugene Ormandy
Eugene Ormandy
Eugene Ormandy was a Hungarian-born conductor and violinist.-Early life:Born Jenő Blau in Budapest, Hungary, Ormandy began studying violin at the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music at the age of five...
was a great success. His British debut in 1959 met with similar acclaim.
In 1952, he became a professor at the Moscow Conservatory
Moscow Conservatory
The Moscow Conservatory is a higher musical education institution in Moscow, and the second oldest conservatory in Russia after St. Petersburg Conservatory. Along with the St...
, where his students included Valery Afanassiev
Valery Afanassiev
- Life :Valery Afanassiev was born in Moscow. He studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory with Emil Gilels and Yakov Zak. In 1969 he was the winner of the Bach Competition in Leipzig, and three years later at the Concours Reine Elisabeth in Brussels...
, Marina Goglidze-Mdivani
Marina Goglidze-Mdivani
Georgian virtuoso pianist Marina Goglidze-Mdivani was born on October 6, 1936 in Tbilisi, Georgia.-Biography:...
and Felix Gottlieb. As chair of the jury of the International Tchaikovsky Competition
International Tchaikovsky Competition
The International Tchaikovsky Competition is a classical music competition held every four years in Moscow, Russia for pianists, violinists, and cellists between 16 and 30 years of age, and singers between 19 and 32 years of age...
at the sensational inaugural event in 1958, he awarded first prize to Van Cliburn
Van Cliburn
Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn Jr. is an American pianist who achieved worldwide recognition in 1958 at age 23, when he won the first quadrennial International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow, at the height of the Cold War....
. He presided over the competition for many years.
Gilels made his Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
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
Piano Concerto No. 3 (Beethoven)
The Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37, was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1800 and was first performed on 5 April 1803, with the composer as soloist. During that same performance, the Second Symphony and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives were also debuted. The composition...
with George Szell
George Szell
George Szell , originally György Széll, György Endre Szél, or Georg Szell, was a Hungarian-born American conductor and composer...
and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Although paraded the world over as a Soviet loyalist, Gilels would occasionally confide his torments under the system to sympathetic fellow-artists
.
In 1981, he suffered a heart attack after a recital at the Concertgebouw
Concertgebouw
The Concertgebouw is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" literally translates into English as "concert building"...
in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, 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
Sviatoslav Richter
Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter was a Soviet pianist well known for the depth of his interpretations, virtuoso technique, and vast repertoire. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.-Childhood:...
, who knew Gilels well and was a fellow-student in the class of Heinrich Neuhaus
Heinrich Neuhaus
Heinrich Gustavovich Neuhaus was a Soviet pianist and pedagogue of German extraction. He taught at the Moscow Conservatory from 1922 to 1964. He was made a People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1956...
at the Moscow Conservatory, believed that Gilels was killed accidentally when an incompetent doctor at the Kremlin hospital inappropriately gave him an injection of a drug during a routine checkup.
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.
Notable repertoire and assessment
Gilels is universally admired for his superb technical control and burnished tone.He had an extensive repertoire
Piano repertoire
Piano repertoire is a term that refers to the collection of music any person or group of persons is able and ready to perform on a piano. A repertoire for a piano may commonly be translated into a trio and played with a cello, a violin, and a piano.-History:...
, from baroque to late Romantic and 20th century classical composers. His interpretations of the central German-Austrian classics formed the core of his repertoire, in particular Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
, and Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
; but he was equally illuminative with Scarlatti
Domenico Scarlatti
Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti was an Italian composer who spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. He is classified as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical style...
and twentieth-century composers such as Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
, Rachmaninoff
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
, and Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
. His Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
was also first-class, and his recordings of the Hungarian Rhapsody
Hungarian Rhapsodies
Hungarian Rhapsody redirects here. For the 1979 Hungarian film Hungarian Rhapsody . For the 1928 German film Ungarische Rhapsodie.The Hungarian Rhapsodies, S.244, R106, is a set of 19 piano pieces based on Hungarian folk themes, composed by Franz Liszt during 1846-1853, and later in 1882 and 1885...
No. 9 and the Sonata in B minor
Piano Sonata (Liszt)
The Piano Sonata in B minor , S.178, is a musical composition for solo piano by Franz Liszt, published in 1854 with a dedication to Robert Schumann. It is often considered Liszt's greatest composition for solo piano. The piece has been often analyzed, particularly regarding issues of form.-...
have acquired classic status in some circles.
Gilels premiered Prokofiev's 8th Piano Sonata
Piano Sonata No. 8 (Prokofiev)
Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 8 in B flat major, Op. 84, the third of his three War Sonatas, was composed between 1939-1944 and premiered 30 December 1944 in Moscow by Emil Gilels....
, dedicated to Mira Mendelssohn, on December 30, 1944, in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.
He was in the midst of completing a recording cycle of Beethoven's piano sonatas for the German record company Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
when he died. His recording of the "Hammerklavier" Sonata
Piano Sonata No. 29 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106 is a piano sonata widely considered to be one of the most important works of the composer's third period and among one of the great piano sonatas...
received a Gramophone Award in 1984.
Gilels recorded with his daughter Elena Gilels, including Mozart's double piano concerto
Piano Concerto No. 10 (Mozart)
The Concerto No. 10 in E-flat major for Two Pianos, K. 365/316a, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was written in 1779. Mozart wrote it to play with his sister Maria Anna . He was 23 years old and on the verge of leaving Salzburg for Vienna....
with Karl Böhm and the Vienna Philharmonic and Schubert's Fantasie in F minor for piano duet
Fantasia in F minor for piano four-hands
The Fantasia in F minor by Franz Schubert, D.940 , for piano four-hands , is one of Schubert’s most important works for more than one pianist and one of his most important piano works altogether...
. He also made some outstanding chamber recordings with the violinist Leonid Kogan and the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, KBE , known to close friends as Slava, was a Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. He is widely considered to have been the greatest cellist of the second half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest of...
.
Prizes, awards and honors
Soviet Union- 1st Prize, All-Soviet Union Piano Competition, 1933
- 2nd Prize, Vienna International Piano Competition, 1936
- 1st Prize, Concours Eugène Ysaÿe, BrusselsII Queen Elisabeth Music CompetitionThe second edition of the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition, then known as Eugène Ysaÿe Competition, took place in Brussels from May 15 - 31 1938, and was the inaugural edition of its piano competition...
, 1938 - Stalin Prize, USSR, 1946
- People's Artist of the USSRPeople's Artist of the USSRPeople's Artist of the USSR, also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to citizens of the Soviet Union.- Nomenclature and significance :...
, 1954 - Three Orders of Lenin, USSR, including 1961
- Lenin PrizeLenin PrizeThe Lenin Prize was one of the most prestigious awards of the USSR, presented to individuals for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was created on June 23, 1925 and was awarded until 1934. During the period from 1935 to 1956, the Lenin Prize was...
, 1962 - Hero of Socialist Labour
- Order of the Red Banner of LabourOrder of the Red Banner of LabourThe Order of the Red Banner of Labour was an order of the Soviet Union for accomplishments in labour and civil service. It is the labour counterpart of the military Order of the Red Banner. A few institutions and factories, being the pride of Soviet Union, also received the order.-History:The Red...
- Order of the Friendship of Peoples
- Order of the Badge of Honour
Foreign
- Order of Commandeur Mérite Culturel et Artistique de Paris, 1967
- Gold Medal of the City of Paris, France
- Order of Leopold (Belgium)
- Honorary Member, Accademia Nazionale di Santa CeciliaAccademia Nazionale di Santa CeciliaThe Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, based in Italy.It is based at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, and was founded by the papal bull, Ratione congruit, issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prominent in Western...
, Rome - Honorary Member, Royal Academy of MusicRoyal Academy of MusicThe Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
, London - Honorary Professor, Franz Liszt Academy of MusicFranz Liszt Academy of MusicThe Franz Liszt Academy of Music is a concert hall and music conservatory in Budapest, Hungary, founded on November 14, 1875...
, Budapest
Discography highlights
- 1935 - LisztFranz LisztFranz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
: Fantasia on Themes from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro. - 1951 - LisztFranz LisztFranz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
: Hungarian RhapsodyHungarian RhapsodiesHungarian Rhapsody redirects here. For the 1979 Hungarian film Hungarian Rhapsody . For the 1928 German film Ungarische Rhapsodie.The Hungarian Rhapsodies, S.244, R106, is a set of 19 piano pieces based on Hungarian folk themes, composed by Franz Liszt during 1846-1853, and later in 1882 and 1885...
No. 9. - 1954 - Saint-SaënsCamille Saint-SaënsCharles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
: Piano Concerto No. 2Piano Concerto No. 2 (Saint-Saëns)The Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22 by Camille Saint-Saëns, was composed in 1868 and is probably Saint-Saëns' most popular piano concerto. It was dedicated to Madame A. de Villers née de Haber. At the première, the composer was the soloist and Anton Rubinstein conducted the orchestra...
in G minor, Op. 22 (cond. Cluytens)*. - 1954 - MedtnerNikolai MedtnerNikolai Karlovich Medtner was a Russian composer and pianist.A younger contemporary of Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin, he wrote a substantial number of compositions, all of which include the piano...
: Piano Sonata No. 5 in G Minor, Op. 22. - 1955 - RachmaninoffSergei RachmaninoffSergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
: Piano Concerto No. 3Piano Concerto No. 3 (Rachmaninoff)The Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30, composed in 1909 by Sergei Rachmaninoff is famous for its technical and musical demands on the performer...
in D minor, Op. 30 (cond. Cluytens). - 1958 - BrahmsJohannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
: Piano Concerto No. 2Piano Concerto No. 2 (Brahms)The Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83 by Johannes Brahms is a composition for solo piano with orchestral accompaniment. It is separated by a gap of 22 years from the composer's first piano concerto. Brahms began work on the piece in 1878 and completed it in 1881 while in Pressbaum near...
in B flat major, Op. 83 (cond. ReinerFritz ReinerFrederick Martin “Fritz” Reiner was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century.-Biography:...
). - 1957 - BeethovenLudwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
: Piano Concerto No. 4Piano Concerto No. 4 (Beethoven)Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58, was composed in 1805–1806, although no autograph copy survives.-Musical forces and movements:...
(cond. Ludwig). - 1957 - ScriabinAlexander ScriabinAlexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist who initially developed a lyrical and idiosyncratic tonal language inspired by the music of Frédéric Chopin. Quite independent of the innovations of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed an increasingly atonal musical system,...
: Piano Sonata No. 4Sonata No. 4 (Scriabin)The Piano Sonata No. 4 in F sharp major, Op. 30, was written by Alexander Scriabin in 1903. It consists of two movements, Andante and Prestissimo volando, and is the shortest of Scriabin's sonatas ....
in F sharp major, Op. 30*. - 1957 - Weinberg: Piano Sonata No. 4 in B Minor.
- 1961 - Prelude in B minor (J. S. Bach, arranged Siloti)Prelude in B minor (J. S. Bach, arranged Siloti)The Prelude in B minor is an arrangement for piano by Alexander Siloti of the Prelude in E minor BWV 855a by Johann Sebastian Bach from his Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach...
* (Moscow) - 1968 - MedtnerNikolai MedtnerNikolai Karlovich Medtner was a Russian composer and pianist.A younger contemporary of Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin, he wrote a substantial number of compositions, all of which include the piano...
: Piano Sonata No. 10 in A minor, Op. 38 No. 1. ("Sonata Reminiscenza")* (Moscow) - 1968 - Liszt: Rhapsodie espagnole* (Leningrad)
- 1972 - TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
: Piano Concerto No. 2Piano Concerto No. 2 (Tchaikovsky)Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, Op. 44, was written in 1879-1880. It was dedicated to Nikolai Rubinstein, who had insisted he be allowed to perform it at the premiere as a way of making up for his harsh criticism of Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto. Rubinstein was...
in G major, Op. 44 (cond. MaazelLorin MaazelLorin Varencove Maazel is an American conductor, violinist and composer.- Early life :Maazel was born to Jewish-American parents in Neuilly-sur-Seine in France and brought up in the United States, primarily at his parents' home in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood. His father, Lincoln Maazel , was...
). - 1972 - BrahmsJohannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
: Piano Concerto No. 1Piano Concerto No. 1 (Brahms)The Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15, is a work for piano and orchestra composed by Johannes Brahms in 1858. The composer gave the work's public debut in Hanover, Germany, the following year.-Form:...
in D minor, Op. 15 and Piano Concerto No. 2Piano Concerto No. 2 (Brahms)The Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83 by Johannes Brahms is a composition for solo piano with orchestral accompaniment. It is separated by a gap of 22 years from the composer's first piano concerto. Brahms began work on the piece in 1878 and completed it in 1881 while in Pressbaum near...
in B flat major, Op. 83 (cond. JochumEugen JochumEugen Jochum was an eminent German conductor.Born in Babenhausen, near Augsburg, Germany, Jochum studied the piano and organ in Augsburg until 1922. He then studied conducting in Munich...
). - 1973 - BeethovenLudwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
: Piano Sonata No. 23Piano Sonata No. 23 (Beethoven)Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 is a piano sonata. It is considered one of the three great piano sonatas of his middle period . It was composed during 1804 and 1805, and perhaps 1806, and was dedicated to Count Franz von Brunswick...
in F minor, Op. 57 Appassionata. - 1973 - DebussyClaude DebussyClaude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
: Images, Book 1*. - 1973 - MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
: Piano Concerto No. 27Piano Concerto No. 27 (Mozart)The Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major, K. 595, is a concertante work by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, for piano or fortepiano and orchestra, the last piano concerto he wrote.-Time of composition:The manuscript is dated 5 January 1791...
in B flat major, K595 (cond. BoehmKarl BöhmKarl August Leopold Böhm was an Austrian conductor. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century.- Education :...
). - 1974 - GriegEdvard GriegEdvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
: Lyric PiecesLyric PiecesLyric Pieces is a collection of 66 short pieces for solo piano written by Edvard Grieg. They were published in 10 volumes, from 1867 to 1901...
http://www.gramophone.net/ClassicReview/View/238/Emil%20Gilels%27s%20searching%20recording%20of%20Grieg%27s%20Lyric%20Pieces. - 1974 - ProkofievSergei ProkofievSergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
: Sonata No. 8 in B flat major, Op. 84. - 1976 - SchubertFranz SchubertFranz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
: Forellenquintett ("Trout QuintetTrout QuintetThe Trout Quintet is the popular name for the Piano Quintet in A major by Franz Schubert. In Otto Erich Deutsch's catalogue of Schubert's works, it is D. 667...
") Quintet for Piano, Violin, Violoncello, and Contrabass in A major D667 (with Amadeus QuartetAmadeus QuartetThe Amadeus Quartet was a world famous string quartet founded in 1947.Because of their Jewish origin, violinists Norbert Brainin, Siegmund Nissel and Peter Schidlof were driven out of Vienna after Hitler's Anschluss of 1938...
) - 1977 - RachmaninoffSergei RachmaninoffSergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
, Prelude in C-sharp minor Op. 3 No. 2Prelude in C-sharp minor (Rachmaninoff)Prelude in C-sharp minor , Op. 3, No. 2, is one of Sergei Rachmaninoff's most famous compositions. It is a ternary prelude in C-sharp minor, 62 measures long, and part of a set of five pieces entitled Morceaux de Fantaisie....
* (Moscow) - 1978 - ChopinFrédéric ChopinFrédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
: Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58. - 1982 - BeethovenLudwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
: Piano Sonata No. 29Piano Sonata No. 29 (Beethoven)Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106 is a piano sonata widely considered to be one of the most important works of the composer's third period and among one of the great piano sonatas...
in B flat major, Op. 106 Hammerklavier (Berlin) - 1984 - BeethovenLudwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106 Hammerklavier* (Moscow) - 1984 - ScriabinAlexander ScriabinAlexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist who initially developed a lyrical and idiosyncratic tonal language inspired by the music of Frédéric Chopin. Quite independent of the innovations of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed an increasingly atonal musical system,...
: Third SonataSonata No. 3 (Scriabin)The Piano Sonata No. 3 in F sharp minor, Op. 23, by Alexander Scriabin was composed between 1897 and 1898. The piece is one of Scriabin's early piano sonatas, but does exhibit some modernistic traits.-Background:...
* (Moscow)