Piano Sonatas

Schubert (Artist), Gilels (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 10, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000003FG9
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #358,108 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Son in D, D.850/Op.53: Allegro Vivace

2. Son in D, D.850/Op.53: Con Moto

3. Son in D, D.850/Op.53: Scherzo: Allegro Vivace

4. Son in D, D.850/Op.53: Rondo: Allegro Moderato

5. Son in b: Lento Assai; Allegro Energico

6. Son in b: Andante Sostenuto

7. Son in b: Allegro Energico

8. Son in b: Andante Sostenuto

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In Gilel's hands, these works attain masterpiece stature., July 8, 2001

By 

John Austin "[e-mail]" (Kangaroo Ground, Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Piano Sonatas (Audio CD)

The regions of Eastern Europe we used to called Russia have produced some phenomenal pianists. One such was Emil Gilels. Investigate a recent "Great Pianist of the Twentieth Century" issue on 100 double CDs and you'll find three double CDs devoted to him.

Of his now legendary recorded performances not included in that marathon issue, this CD comprises Schubert and Liszt sonatas he recorded in New York in 1960 and 1964. To the Schubert Sonata he brings a sturdy energy in the first movement, a controlled sense of repose in the second, a playfulness to the outer sections of the Scherzo, and a jauntiness to the Rondo movement.

If this performance raises the stature of the Schubert Sonata in your estimation, then you'll possibly come to regard the Liszt Sonata as a masterpiece once you have listened to Gilel's poetic, dazzling performance, the second work on this CD.

A slight dissatisfaction with the sound quality denies this CD of a possible five star rating. Even by 1960s standards, the piano sound lacks immediacy. Dynamic extremes have been reduced, especially in the Liszt recording. I confirmed this by unearthing versions by Schnabel (Schubert) and Horowitz (Liszt), recorded many years earlier in the 1930s, and heard greater dynamic contrasts.

Sound quality reservations apart, this 71 minute CD represents one of the best value packages you could drop into your trolley.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gilels and the Liszt b minor, March 12, 2007

By 

Robert Balaban "Robert Balaban" (Rockford,Illinois) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Piano Sonatas (Audio CD)

I had the privilage of sitting onstage (overflow) in Chicagos orchestra hall in the late sixties when Gilels performed the Liszt sonata and then the Extreme Privilage of 6 master lessons with him on (yep! the b minor Liszt) to up my own performance in recitals and international competitions. well we all know about the 6 Heavyweights who play it but what about Gilels? Hes in a league of his own! He follows the Peters ed. He makes it big,powerful, but most of all plays with his heart open and always with reserve! A TRUE GEMSTONE! And of course the Schubert sings ever as well! When I hear this CD I know Mr. gilels is still with us! For eternity! Dr.Robert Balaban

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Splendid pianism, overwhelming expressiveness!, August 26, 2008

By 

Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Piano Sonatas (Audio CD)

In a letter, Liszt (who was in his 74, by then) writes to August Stradel: "The time will yet come when my works are appreciated. True, it will be late fro me because then I shall no longer be with you."

Liszt embodied the supreme culmination of a virtuosi age that would never return. Because despite all the excesses of igneous incandescence and shaking paroxysm - through the well documented exhibitions of ferocious and brilliant recitals through the main cities of Europe (specially in Europe against his appreciated colleague the Swiss and talented composer Sigismund Thalberg, who also made notable piano transcriptions ) - nestled besides the mature artist, the silent composer, the devoted lover of febrile transcriptions, the main propeller of a new genre best known as symphonic poem, the generous performer of so many emerging talents whom he disinterestedly sheltered (Sharwenka, Moscheles, Hiller, Bronsart, Raff and so many others), he was also a deep studious of new sonorities, novelties of form and expression that inspired to Ferrucio Busoni decades later.

The more I listen this admirable and overwhelming Sonata in B minor, the more I love it. Alas. what prodigious music!, how admirable are these torrents of arpeggios, those outbursts of propulsive octaves, those glittering crescendos and amazing decantation process of literary flight. Additionally, it could be said that, beneath the score centuries of literary eruptions at last, could blossom and to manifest themselves, in just thirty minutes. The peerless conciseness and thoughtful refinement are never theatrical poses. But as well as the evection between the moon and the sun, (or interpreter and composer). Just a few interpreters along the history have been capable to understand, perform and convey the countless existential experiences of this tragic encounter with Satan. Few pianists come to my mind as being more aptly suited for performing this work than a bunch pf giants of the recent past. Occasionally, I've tried to find in renowned keyboard talents at least, a vague and subtle description of the Faustian pathos those inner visions.

And happily, I discovered this performance, filled of a wisdom approach that demonstrates a meridian clarity around its conceptual wholeness. This admirable pianist did it.