Johannes Brahms - Piano Concerto No. 2 (Emil Gilels; Fritz Reiner)

Information

Composer: Johannes Brahms

• Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 83

Emil Gilels, piano

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Fritz Reiner, conductor

Date: 1958 / 2004

Label: RCA

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Review

It is not too much to say that Emil Gilels' recording of Brahms' Piano Concerto in B flat major with Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony from February 8, 1958, was a revelation. With revolutions and invasions and hot wars and cold wars, very few Soviet pianists had traveled to America in decades and no one at the time knew what a truly great Soviet pianist might sound like. Gilels changed all of that. His tour of America and his recording of the Brahms Concerto showed exactly what a truly great Soviet pianist sounded like. As proven by this recording, a truly great Soviet pianist had tremendous technique, an enormous tone, a strong but sensitive touch, and a powerful but soulful conception of the music. With the firm but flexible support of Reiner and the Chicago, Gilels creates a performance of Brahms' Concerto in B flat that is massive and delicate, dramatic and expressive, stern but playful and everywhere deeply musical. And with the deeply soulful playing of cellist Janos Starker in the Andante, Gilels and Reiner and the Chicago and Starker may have created the most touching Andante ever recorded. BMG/JVC's remastered sound is as close to a real aural image of a real pianist with a real orchestra in a real hall in real time as has ever been recorded.

— James Leonard

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Johannes Brahms (7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer and pianist. In his lifetime, Brahms's popularity and influence were considerable. Brahms composed for symphony orchestra, chamber ensembles, piano, organ, and voice and chorus. Many of his works have become staples of the modern concert repertoire. An uncompromising perfectionist, Brahms destroyed some of his works and left others unpublished. Brahms is often considered both a traditionalist and an innovator. His music is firmly rooted in the structures and compositional techniques of the Classical masters, with a highly romantic nature embedded within.

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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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