Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No. 1; Nutcracker (Emil Gilels; Fritz Reiner)

Information

Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

• Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23
• The Nutcracker, Op. 71 (Excerpts)

Emil Gilels, piano

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Fritz Reiner, conductor

Date: 1955; 1959

Label: RCA

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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Romantic Russian composer. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular concert and theatrical music in the current classical repertoire, including the ballets Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, the 1812 Overture, his First Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto, the Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy, several symphonies, and the opera Eugene Onegin. Despite his many popular successes, Tchaikovsky's life was punctuated by personal crises and depression.

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Emil Gilels (19 October 1916 – 14 October 1985) was one of the leading Soviet classical pianists of the 20th century. He graduated from the Odessa and Moscow Conservatories, where he studied with Heinrich Neuhaus. In 1938 he won first prize at the Ysaÿe international competition in Brussels. After World War II, Gilels toured outside the Soviet Union. His debuts in New York City (1955) and London (1959) met with high praise. Although the works of Schumann, Brahms and Beethoven were the core of his repertoire, his performances of the works of J.S. Bach, Bartók and Prokofiev also were highly regarded.

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Fritz Reiner (December 19, 1888 – November 15, 1963) was an American conductor, best known for his work with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, of which he was music director from 1953 to 1962. Reiner studied piano with Béla Bartók, along with composition, conducting and percussion. He went to the United States as principal conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony (1922–31) and from 1931 to 1941 was head of the opera and orchestral departments at the Curtis Institute of Music. Before going to Chicago he was music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony (1938–48) and of the Metropolitan Opera (1948–53).

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