Emil Gilels Quotes

Emil Grigoryevich Gilels , HSL, PAU, was a Soviet pianist, widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.

✵ 6. October 1916 – 14. October 1985

Emil Gilels: 2 quotes0 likes

Emil Gilels Quotes

“Of the Russian pianists I like only one, Richter. Gilels did some things well, but I did not like his mannerisms, the way he moved around while he was playing.”

Vladimir Horowitz, quoted in Harold C. Schonberg, Horowitz: his life and music

“He [Gilels] played in an easy, natural manner, with strong but unassuming musicianship. His technique was brilliant; years later Neuhaus, still astonished, was to recall Gilels's incredible octaves in Liszt's Spanish Rhapsody. Yet Gilels was never looked upon as a mere virtuoso. As a matter of fact, his programs did not often include music pour epater le bourgeois. He played a stedy diet of Beethoven (the Hammerklavier was a work that strongly engaged his last years), Schubert, Schumann, Chopin and Brahms. In many respects, the great virtuoso who put his authoritative stamp on whatever he played was, at the same time, a thinking man's pianist.”

Harold C. Schonberg, The Great Pianists

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