Emil Gilels is on fine form in these live performances taped December 24-27, 1977 (sonic differences lead me to suspect that the Rachmaninov and Brahms items stem from one concert; the Schumann another). He deploys his tonal largesse and golden legato to lovely, expansive effect in the two Rachmaninov transcriptions and Prelude selections. The famous C-sharp minor Prelude gets a brooding, subjective reading where the bass notes occupy center stage. In the Op. 23 No. 2 Prelude, Gilels fully articulates the rolling left-hand patterns, creating a weightier, more majestic sound world than we often hear in this piece (Richter’s leaner, lither account, for instance).
Schumann’s rarely-performed Romanze, Gigue, Fughette, and Scherzo group stands out for the pianist’s rhythmic drive and attention to inner voices. The Brahms Op. 10 Ballades follow similar interpretive lines to Gilels’ contemperaneous studio counterparts for DG. Much as I admire the latter for their surface polish and long-lined perception, I find the live performances warmer in tone and more communicatively phrased (cases in point: the insistent triplets in No. 1’s central section, No. 3’s unison scales, and No. 4’s tempo fluctuations). The ample and resonant sonics are quite agreeable in the Rachmaninov and Brahms, in contrast to the distant microphone placement and hollower resonance we hear in the Schumann. Incidentally, this release first appeared in the late 1990s on the defunct Revelation label. Although Yedang’s remastering sounds a tiny bit fuller, those who own the Revelation disc need not upgrade.
