Recording of the Month
D e c e m b e r 9 8
Ludwig van Beethoven :
Pianosonata no. 21 in C-major, op. 53 "Waldstein"
Pianosonata no. 23 in F-minor, op. 56 "Appassionata"
Pianosonata no. 26 in E-flat major, op. 81a "Les Adieux"

Emil Gilels, piano
1987. Deutsche Grammophon full price


There are works of music that I like and adore. And then there are some, not many but a nice little bouquet, that I can't live without (atleast I prefer to live with them). Beethoven's Waldstein-sonata is one of those few pieces. Then there are recordings which I like and admire... and there are recordings of a seminal stature. Maurizio Pollini's account of the late Beethoven sonatas and Sviatoslav Richter's Appassionata belongs to this category, and so does Gilels' Waldstein. The Russian titan Emil Gilels is in need of no further presentation, with all his great recordings and performances in the latter part of our century. Few if any will dispute his importance, and reverence and admiration continiues to be connected with his name 12 years after his untimely death. Are there any finer recordings of Grieg's lyric pieces than that of Gilels? Or what about The Brahms concertos with Jochum and the Berliner Philharmoniker? Yet another of those immortal recordings is, atleast in my opinion, his Waldstein-sonata.

The 32 pianosonatas runs through the production of Beethoven like a red line containing nearly all of his fascetts as a composer, and linking the early Mozart and Haydn inspired period, with the middle heroic works, and of course the late metaphysical (this is a rather dubious term, I know, to apply to music) probings. I can never seem to be able to decide which of Beethoven's periods haunts me the most. When listening to his late quartets or pianosonatas or indeed his Missa Solemnis or Ninth symphony, I'm convinced that this is it; music quite simply cannot be greater or more profound than this. The problem (a rather nice problem I might add) is that I feel exactly the same when listening to his Violinconcerto, his Third or Fifth symphony or ... the Waldstein sonata. Elegance uniquely combined with tremendous dynamic force and energy is the hallmark of the great master's middle period. Just listen to the finale of the Fifth symphony, the Rondo of the Violinconcerto or the finale of the Waldstein and you'll see what I mean.

When Emil Gilels approaches the Waldstein, he does so while keeping a certain distance to the music. This isn't the late Beethoven or even more so Schubert, where one can and must abandon artistic distance in order to uncover the deeperlayers. This is the heroic Beethoven; music which posseses the kind of Imperial greatness one has to admire from the outside. I have rarely heard pianoplaying matching that of Gilels' Waldstein when it comes to pure elegance and authority. The fastflowing notes of the first movement is presented with a stinging clarity making them sparkle and shine like beads of water under the morning sun. The short second movement is rahter gloomy and strangely distant compared to the two large outer movements, for which it almost works as an intermezzo. My only reservation for this recording lies in this movement, where I find Gilels' slow slightly steely approach somewhat mannered. But this little reservation is blown away the instant he glides over into the finale. This, my friends is possibly the finest stuff I've come across on record! The sparkling elegance of his touch, the brilliance of his phrasing, the sheer clarity of his sound, is breathtaking. This movement alone makes the disc worthwhile by a safe margin, and presents to us the genius of Beethoven through the mind and hands of an outstanding artist.

Oh, that's right..., the disc also contains a fine performance of the "Appassionata" and a brilliant account of the "Lebewohl" or "Les Adieux" sonata. If you think or know that Gilels is your man when it comes to Beethoven I will not hesitate to recommend the Sonatas-box issued by Deutsche Grammophon in 1987. It contains 29 of the 32 sonatas in addition to the "Kurfürsten-sonatas" (Werk ohne Opus) and the "Eroica-variations", AND it is sold at bargain-price!! Emil Gilels' completion of the sonata-cycle was cut short by his untimely death in 1985. Among the sonatas wanting, is most noticably the last one: the C-minor, op.111. However sad it's absence, it is overshadowed by the fact that there is so much to relish in the Beethoven of Emil Gilels.

My best wishes for the New Year.
Orpheo

Deutsche Grammophon


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© 1998 Arne.Mork@hum.uit.no

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