Emil Gilels - Schumann piano concerto, Movt. III (part 1)

[JoeTownley]

I took this tempo in my performance many years ago (more out of necessity than choice---watch some of my videos and you'll know what I mean) and the audience booed. I guess you have to be Gilels or Arrau to get away with it.

[mattiabp]

too slow... bit of boring... sorry to say it, i like Gilels but for my taste this movement is nicer when it's played faster

[loboris1995]

humm where is the seconde mouvement?

[ThePhilipjones235]

too slow, but who cares its so awesome

[peixotoraul]

can you please post the second mouvement? thanks!

[whippingmoon]

Surprisingly slow tempo at the beginning, but I think soon gets close to a more "standard" tempo.

Absotlutely amazing interpretation!

[sauceron]

Something that really irritates me is ignorant Americans who prefer to talk about the music rather than listen to it and appreciate it... 'AgnesRegina' and no, you are not a queen

[SpottyDorsord]

The power, the intellect, and the musicality.

[WagnerMahler]

is there anybody know who is the conductor? by the way, yes, Gilels is great, one of the greatest! his tempo is just what Schumann wanted. because, everybody play that finale so fast, but the master written his metronome mark slower.

[diableret]

Gilels, Gods of Gods, the great incomparable master.

[ChrisWatch]

this almost sounds like the "hunter song"

[deluzon]

Absolutely fantastic - it seems slow, but please, play it this way and you will be forced to play rather fast because all the minutest details are being played. He is not just doing a job but creating art.

[fystasjoppheng]

Great tempo!

[Pianist54d]

Gilels...one of the greatest pianists of our time.

[nadyart]

@Pianist54d I agree with my heart and my soul.

[pec0two]

This has got to be the worst clip on the tube.

[Pianist54d]

Do you play the piano?

[kellnergram]

Wha'sa'matter, pec0two, you not get enough oxygen in mommy's womb?

[xbottomboix]

This man went to the Moscow Conservatory! I truly expected a much better interpretation than this. It saddens me because I've heard other recordings by him and he's superb, however this lacks any excitement. It's just terrible.

[gfabisevich]

you suck bottomboi

[Pianist54d]

You go play it........

[helloitscaty]

he is my great uncle!

I AM NOT JOKING!!!!!! :P

[mmcrosbie]

No reason not to believe you. My grandmother's cousin is a famous jazz trumpter from London, England - Nat Gonella.

[pianotalent]

Haha mine too, there many of us now today, who can declare that! i have the official documents which can support that. (;-)..from the Odessa regional archives.

[helloitscaty]

Are you a Gilels? Do you live in the US? My mom is a Gilels. It's kinda cool that anyone that has the Gilels name is related.

[pianotalent]

my friend, close relatives most of the times do not have the same last name (;-). And those who have the same last name in many cases are not relatives, actually. I have written documentations about the relationship to him. I live in US NJ now.

[demosj]

Very fascinating to hear this played at such a slow tempo. Lovely romantic sentiment, but I can't help but feel that playing this slowly loses more than it gains. The velocity is, I feel, an unseparable part of the third movement's character.

[mestreliszt]

Well.... is a great pianist of course but I don't like this tempo Is very slow... i think

i prefer the argerich performance

[pincheruso]

Great!

[mathpianist93]

Does the time signature change in this movement, because it sure sounds like it?

[AgnesRegina]

No -- that's the wonderful thing. The entire movement is in three-four, but Schumann cleverly shifts the accents to give the impression of duple meter. Just one more of the things that make this one of the most awesome concertos of all time.

[sviatoslavberezovsky]

YESSS! absolutely perfect tempo, with character. you understand every harmony, every rythm etc. i love this man...

[chad410]

i think you need to hear the harmony in this and if you play too fast you cant.

[chad410]

I think he put the nobility before virtuosity and that is a fine musician. I love this person as pianist and musicia also

[pianist007]

Something new and fresh took place here : a Schumann Grand Waltz maybe ?? The slow tempo doesn't really bother me here, it's filled with nobelity, grace and passion and I LOVE it this way too . . maybe even more than when taken at faster tempo.

[elineangelica]

well, it sounds a bit more "gilels" than "schumann", or brahms perhaps. but then he was more of a brahms-pianist than schumann-pianist. well, he's my hero, so i can't help feeling that everything he touches turns into gold, even if it is in a clear gilels-way, like this :)

[bozovilla]

How come he plays so slow for this movement? The orchestra also... I thought it suppose to be allegro vivace? It's not true that older artist plays slower. Look at Arthur Rubenstein. His playing is dynamic.

[musicexpert]

Gilels is one of the greatest pianist ever.

He is known as a amazing virtuoso and very deep and amazing musiciant. It is alot more difficult to play slowly and bring out the beauty of the music then with faster tempo.

I personaly think that if Schumann would be alive then he would appreciate such great performance and performer as well.

[billyguns2]

This slow, stately tempo is not to my taste and doesn't honor the Dionysian spirit so carefully laid out by Schumann. This music should soar and set your heart racing! Hess, Moisiewitsch, Rubinstein, Cliburn, and Richter are among many who got it "right."

[AgnesRegina]

Oh... "rightness" is a matter of interpretation. Not everyone's allegro is the same. Someone -- I wish I remembered who, now -- said, when asked what the correct tempo was, "The tempo at which you play it correctly!" If it sounds good at that speed... so be it. I think it sounds awesome.

[guilarth]

@AgnesRegina It was Furwängler answering to a question of Celibidache

[elineangelica]

yeah, but thats quite often happen when great artists gets older. they are perhaps more interested in other things than vigurosity according to tempo.

listen to gilgel´s first recording of the finale of the appasionata by beethoven, it´s extreeeeemly fast - prestissimo i´d say, and the later recording quite allegro non troppo, as it rather was ment to be.

[tguiot]

i noticed too that artists tend to play slower when getting older... nothing to do with loss of technique; i think they played and learned so much that they want to search deeper and deeper into the music... easier with a slower tempo. that way, they really can take everything in the music... the result is quite surprising! i would prefer a more "traditional" tempo, but gilels interpretation is, as always, superb

[ugnex3]

Or maybe they just play it slower because they want to hold onto each note and each chord, never wanting the music to end? Just a thought :]

[HarkMagnus]

WOOOW!!!

[jabsomdoc]

surprisingly slow tempo. i guess it was the ultra-romantic style of the time.

[Elfinsafety]

Interesting point. Bolet also took it at a similar tempo, as did Arrau, Lympany, to name a few.

[jabsomdoc]

absolutely. and all those players do fine jobs of the piece (as gilel does here), but i seldom hear it played this slow anymore. i guess people are more concerned with fidelity to the score these days. i mean, nobody for example plays beethoven symphonies as slow as karajan anymore either.

[111verena]

@jabsomdoc not so surprising, he simply adheres to Schumannns metronome marking.