Emil Gilels plays Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1

Emil Gilels takes on Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto with his powerful style before an enthralled Parisian audience.

He is a titan. That is the first word that comes to mind when thinking of the pianist. This is not only because of his imposing physical presence, but also because of the special way his hands take possession of the keyboard and draw powerful, full-bodied sounds from it.

Born in Odessa in 1916, like David Oistrakh, Gilels studied piano at the music school in his hometown before becoming a pupil of the famous professor Heinrich Neuhaus at the Moscow Conservatory, alongside a certain Sviatoslav Richter.
In the Gilels family, everyone plays music: his sister Elisabeth married the violinist Leonid Kogan, and his daughter Elena also became a pianist. He formed a famous trio with his brother-in-law, Leonid Kogan, and Rostropovich, which was joined by the viola player Rudolf Barshai when necessary. In Odessa, Gilels met Prokofiev, who became a close friend and entrusted him with the premiere of his Eighth Piano Sonata.

In 1959, in Paris, under the direction of André Cluytens, Gilels attacked the first notes of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 as a lion attacks its prey. But his touch is velvety, not clawing! Enthralled, the audience applauds as soon as they hear the cadenza of the first movement.

Several years later, in 1966, we meet Stanislav Neuhaus, a pianist and teacher at the Moscow Conservatory who followed in his father, Heinrich's, footsteps. Born in Moscow in 1927, Stanislav spent much of his childhood and adolescence with his father-in-law, writer Boris Pasternak.

He is a magnificent virtuoso who masters the most challenging pieces, such as Scriabin's Étude in C-sharp minor and Nocturne for the Left Hand, while displaying his usual subtlety and elegance. Among Debussy's works, he delivers the most spectacular renditions of Fireworks and Minstrels.

Archives

• "Concert de l'Orchestre National de la RTF," INA archive by Marcel Bluwal, 1959.
• -"Musique pour vous," INA archive by André Leroux, 1966.