GILELS plays Beethoven - Waldstein Sonata Op. 53 - Part 3

[adamcofield]

he sounds just like a piano when he sings!

[ivanoschen]

I still prefer Schnabel's interpretation.

[pianoboy75]

5 deaf people dislike this video - let us be kind to the physically challenged ;-)

[glazenbol]

5 people are retards

[NewBMW1066]

The Teaching company DVD of Beethoven Sonata's got me hooked on the Waldstein. I then heard a BBC lecture by Andreas Schiff on the Waldstein. That was two years ago. Since then I have heard many interpretations and I am smitten. I like the Barenboim video because I see his hands while playing some of the most difficult passages; however for clarity of performance, this one stands out.

[jpianod]

I am currently studying this sonata (currently working on the first two movements with hope to learn the entire sonata as well). The clarity is flawless: every note is heard in this movement. This is one of my favorite Beethoven sonatas and I wish that this kind of music would be more appreciated these days compared to rap or hip-hop music. Those types of music do not completely fit my definition of music; they are called "noise" compared to this.

[Nimlins]

badass

[carldudesons]

this russian pianist plays well beethoven !!!!

[nerfmyaccount]

As for the octave glissandos, who gives a shit about C major scales, it's the least interesting part of the piece that wouldn't even be given a name or recognition if humans had four hands. There's more to music than technique people.

[nerfmyaccount]

This and Firkusny are the only performances of this sonata I can really listen to because everyone else just struggles too much. Firkusny is more idiosyncratic but has a more organic quality that isn't necessarily better but can be refreshing, Gilels is the gold standard though. Welp my 2c :)

[nerfmyaccount]

@fabs038 Too soft and then he crashes in? Welcome to Beethoven. The score is literally pianissimo to fortissimo. It's common for pianists to ignore the composer but here you get an accurate performance.

[maretranquility1]

@ jaaroosh Absolutely perfect playing. I agree with your appreciation. He´s an absolute superb interpreter.

[musicfanof]

those octaves in the presto section... HOW does he do it?

[Alexjr1543]

Beethoven's really outdone himself in this piece, I think. This is just extremely amazing. Every time I listen to it, I feel like something is exploding inside me.

I must say, though, I somewhat prefer Argerich's interpretation. This one is very good too, though.

[justap20]

Great Pianist and great video !

[MrGunterguerrero]

Sonata No.21 in C Major, OP.53 " Waldstein " : Beethoven composed this spaciously

work in 1804, dedicated to Count Waldstein.

Gilels absolutely perfect !

[TallMikeBismuth]

Thank you for introducing me to this pianist. I haven't heard a more musical interpretation of this movement, let alone the entire sonata. I nearly puked when I heard Barenboim play this!

[quinto34]

It's not a contest ....

[ele323]

this is monumental playing.

because its totally selfness.

[Sleighteem]

Jaaroosh,

Thank you for posting this! No, I'm not a musician, but I still melt when I hear something as beautiful as this. Yes, his "tone," as someone else wrote, is like bells here. 6:26 - 7:00! Rapture! It reminds me of the cadenza to the 4th piano concerto.  (I *think* I have that right.)

[wayneredhart]

@mindwa I don't know for sure here, but most pianists don't do it glissando. This sounded fingered to me.

[joaofelixalves]

I think Arrau in general is the best beethoven player but in this sonata Gilels really goes far beyond...

[Basketbaka1031]

@joaofelixalves Arrau was REALLY old when he played this wasn't he? Like it was his 80th birthday or something...

[joaofelixalves]

I think Arrau in general is the best beethoven player but in this sonata gilels really goes far beyond..

[Ray0X0]

@joaofelixalves Well, everybody has personal preferences... I think Gilels is pretty good in Beethoven, but Arrau is apart... 'Arrau set the standard' as said Marta Argerich... even and above all in Waldstein!

[WaldemarKoszlowsky]

Idyllic, Breathtaking. Great Gilels!!

[Luketheedge]

4:35

[ljricht1]

@Luketheedge AWESOME. my favorite part of this sonata, hands down. original, and most importantly, extraordinarily beautiful.

[heinzgilbert]

OMG that octave glissando.... its so perfectly done.... no stop point from 1st not to last. usually people pause a while at sol,, then glides it down to sol octave below.... but this.....

[84Fish48Fish]

Interesting, just a while ago, I didn't think it was possible to play an octave glissando. How does he do that? (I tried it a few hours ago and my hand started to hurt.)

[heinzgilbert]

Well dont curve your pinky too much. make it about 45* slant. then it depends on the piano, sometimes there are pianos which are not responsive to this technique,,,, some quite easy.

[Haeronthegreat]

Octave glissandi... how does he play them so well!? Magical.

[chu71]

gilels plays the best waldstein ever. Ludwig van would wet his pants, and the guy who wrote "awful" is a complete retard. I hereby send him to bad waldstein alfred brendel hell. You dummy.

[jabsomdoc]

I kinda like both the Gilels and Brendel versions for entirely different reasons.

[hellomate639]

Beethoven wouldn't wet his pants. He might turn up his nose at this interpretation just because, well, he's Beethoven the tyrannical composer.

[dagahanfdm]

Beethoven maybe wouldn't. But I did.

[skillzdatkill1]

awful...just awful...

[tchebinai71]

hi, tell us which version you like most ; and why do you hate this one ???

thanks

[tchebinai71]

so i would be glad to hear it... but of course you'll stay far behind sir Horowitz, mrs Tomsic , Pletnev, Duchable,Gilels, Rubinstein , Gulda and of course Melvyn Tan on his fortepiano .

.... LOL

[chu71]

Yoskillzdatkill1 u are an idiot. STFU.

[Tsotne16]

whatever... :D

[musicante93]

penso ke questa sia la perfezione.........mi sento male!!!!!!!

[scottyschumann18]

fab

[friendant72]

I have this CD! His playing of the Appassionata Sonata on the same disc is absolutely incredible.

Without a doubt my favourite player of Beethoven, and possibly Rachmaninoff. Consistently mind-blowing technique, sound and interpretation.

[OrangeSodaKing]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Gilels' Beethoven. I have the box set, too! The Pathetique is phenominal, and so is the Hammerklavier.

[mstuartg]

You can really appreciate the left hand in this remarkable performance

[gfabisevich]

His tone is like bells ringing.

[taviona]

That may also be the piano's tone but I agree.

[tchebinai71]

i don't care if the pianist is right or wrong ....

STRETTA !!!!

[Dnava28]

I don't understand why he speeds up the tempo in that way when the G trillo comes.

On the sheet I have, there is just the crescendo, but there is no "più allegro", "accelerando" or "più mosso".

[reghin]

well he feels like speeding maybe :P every solo player has the freedom to play he's own way :D

[sercerch]

@Dnava28 You mean the trill like just a minute into the piece, and then again a couple minutes later? Try keeping the beat yourself; actually tap it out - he hardly speeds up, if any....

[Dnava28]

@sercerch Yes, I meant that. "he hardly speeds up" doesn't exclude that he speeds up, even for 2-4 bars. Anyway, I like it! Not really "classical", but I don't like purists...

[fcavalheiro]

Oh my God, I love this movement so much.

[leeyoung1991]

This must be the best thing I've heard!

[znewsnej]

I always found Kempff's version the best, but now I know what "clarity" mens!

[rva25]

very, very, very well! But Pollini and especially Wilhelm Backhaus much better.

[OrangeSodaKing]

lol, OKAY.

[demolishmentor7]

Hello, OrangeSodaKing.

>:3

[OrangeSodaKing]

Somebody read my classical music thread on High Impact Halo, didn't they? What do you think of this wonderful piece?

And Dnava28, Gilels played a lot of things a little more romantically, so that's why he kind of took a little liberty with the tempo.

[reghin]

u can't say who is better at this level of playing.

[bsb233]

Why not?

[Sumeroid]

I came across this video accidentally and I must say it was the best thing that happened to me today. Finally, I found THE interpretation of Waldstein. Such clarity! And the brilliance of Maestro Emil´s sound is just overwhelming! It seems to come from another dimension. I think Ludwig van must have been with him somehow during that recording sessions.

[riezbien]

This is the nicest Ludwig Van's Waldstein I've ever listened to.... truly a dreamlike, mesmerising, minute and honest interpretation!!!!!!!!!!!!

His performance seems like something that would make me think twice and keep me going when I had a broken heart and wanted to ditch and drop everything seriously....

Big Bravo to Gilels!!!!!!!

[tchebinai71]

stretta ................

[himitsunosallychan]

Sorry, but my English is too wrong to praise this monumental recording. Especially, this last movement is pianism par excellence period It is sheer impossibility to surpass this level of mastery. If someone claims there exists something that does surpass, I surely would like to hear it. A true virtuoso, and he was not circus man at the piano like some others. His habit of playing wrong notes is really insignificant, and more, to talk of his slow performance velocity as a bad thing is nonsense.

[scottyschumann18]

Gilels gives every harmonic note, exactly what it deserves. RIP Emil :)

[ProfessorSuckMah]

INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[romotchka]

We can speak extensively and endlessly about the perfect mastery of dynamics, ideal tempi, incredible fluidity, etc of this wonderful recording. But what is at stake here is beyond mastery. It's a kind of perfect disappearance of the performer's ego to serve a pure musical intention. As if Beethoven was just here. One must not be only a genius to do this, but something like a compassional human being of the deepest happy few.

[wanjabelaga]

wunderbar

hatte gerade die letzten tage backhaus mit der gesamtaufnahme der beethoven-sonaten gehört ( vorzüglich!)

aber natürlch: gilels ist nach wie vor ebenso großartig!

[Ellevius]

So much at ease!

[Ellevius]

First time for me to hear this pianist.

Both Islamey and this piece are fantastically played. He is best!

He owns his music!

So dynamic!

[openpianist]

It is amazing how Gilels plays Beethoven..for my feeling, he goes far beyond anyone else.

[beethomozart]

extraordinary sonata no.21"Waldstein",the rondo is biult over 7 notes,too simple,it has the enchantment of a lied in miniature,even though this melody experiences radicals transformations before ending in an outstanding prestisimo,long live ludwig van and the excellent pianist mr gilels

[kwixotic]

There's a more kind of subtlety and pretty flow in Gilel's rendition of this compared to the other pianists including even kempff, though the latter does a splendid job as well.

[JJeeann]

the prestissimo was amazing,my god.... wonder witch piano was,90% sure usual steinway...man!!

[OldRabit]

Agree with: Gilels is really The Best.

[OrangeSodaKing]

Absolutely marvelous, even though I've commented on this before.

(Also, I got the box set of Gilels playing the Beethoven Sonatas for my 16th Birthday!)

[tchebinai71]

Does someone know Tha great Waldstein by Gould ??? I heard an excerpt once but so short : ((

[DonkyKong8765]

what passion...i like kempff's interp as well, even though it is very different.

[milkywayspot]

Thanks to lepaintre123 for sharing, it's great, 5*****

[piano6861]

Wonderful!

[chu71]

a bit too fast for me - although in terms of clarity gilels beats kempff s waldstein ... flawless technique - gilels was a genius

[ZioStronzo]

Everybody talks a lot about octaves glissando, or about the stretta...But, damn it, listen to 8:32 - 8:54... It's incredible how Gilels plays this part, it's like God and all the nature around are whispering to my hear that they love me, and that the world is beautiful, and such beauty is conveyed through the sweetness of the notes falling over my head like a delightful novembrine rain.I feel at ease with all the elements around me when I listen to that part, and to this 3rd movement in general.

[ZioStronzo]

(cont'd)

What a genius Beethoven has been. Nobody will ever write something like this sonata, which is a prophet that announces:

"Perfection in music is possible. Here it is."

[tchebinai71]

sorry, but ... I VE NEVER HEARD SUCH A GLISSANDO!!! (such atrill too)

[ZioStronzo]

Yes, it's true, it's very well performed and its reproduction by a man who is not Gilels is undoubtedly most unlikely to happen.

What I meant is that there is not only Gilels here, here is Beethoven, maybe the greatest musical genius in our entire history, we shouldn't forget about it ;)

That's all, I didn't mean to be critical towards other people at all :)

[tchebinai71]

Yes I had understood, but how can you guess, and that's only a question, that there's the real beethoven in his playing .

None of us has heard him play.books and partitions are not enough, we'd have it in the ear ...

[ZioStronzo]

Ok there's the problem of interpretation, but these notes that are so beautiful were written by the Maestro... Even if Gilels doesn't play EXACTLY like Beethoven intended, it must be close to what was the author's intent, just because he plays the score and the indications provided by Beethoven.

And, after all, as Gadamer used to say, intepreting a piece of art is "renewing" its character through the sensations of the interpreter, and there should be nothing "bad" about it ;)

[vladimirhorowitz]

Wow, ZioStronzo. Now THAT is a rave review...for a human being to write music that can create that kind of emotion with someone else is pretty amazing. Beethoven was certainly a genius.

For me, I get that feeling around 6:40-6:50 and 4:35-4:48. Both very passionate passages. I like Gilels' interpretation...but I think I still prefer Arrau's. Although Gilels certainly does own the glissandi in this recording.

[atheismius]

GILELS for president of Waldstein! GILELS did it!

[tchebinai71]

Horowitz for god of Waldstein ? : )

[pokesurfer]

anyone know what "stretta" is? i hear a lot about this term...

[eianna05]

ohhhhhh!!!!!!

this is the one i've been looking for

[michanso2]

Masterful.

[OrangeSodaKing]

this is one of my favorite's by beethoven. it's just so brilliant!

[hellomate639]

Alfred Brendel does better at the part here that starts at 1:13.

Brendel's is more,staccato, and well, for lack of a better word, German.

But, really, I can't decide who's opening I like better. This one might have to win out for the beggining. Brendel's wins at the techincally difficult parts, not for technique, but the stylistic approach.

[jaaroosh]

I think you should listen to a very hard stretta (between 6:25 and 7:00) in both interpretations. There is no possibility to play it better than Gilels (In My Opinion of course :)

[ananhiskia]

Mine too!!!

I think Gilels, besides being a great piano master, is one of the best Beethoven interpreters of all times and this sonata he plays GENIUS!!!

[OrangeSodaKing]

Brendel has a mean hammerklavier, but i think Gilels wins this one. And anything else he plays for that matter (except for schumann's piano concerto-that goes to argerich in my opinion)

[tchebinai71]

this passage is the first thing I listen in this sonata . For me it's the real 'orgasm" of the movement, and my favourite passage too. If it doesn't please me I let it ..

It's stupid but ...it's my opinion :)))

[johan6021]

@jaaroosh Totally agree, Gilels interpretation/technique is unsurpassed

[bitterappula]

@jaaroosh ‎... and not only for you it's the best interpretation of the sonata no. 21... Awesome.

[pokesurfer]

i'm sure they're both better than U

[hellomate639]

And I'm probably better than you[at the piano].

The point is I like both of them, and which one I like is an opinion.

I prefer Brendel's to this one, except for the opening, which Gilels does with a considerable amount of color.

I like the sound of the piano in this one better than Brendel's as well.

[pokesurfer]

u wish u were; and ur opinion sucks/ (don't we all luv hate messages? XD) p.s. i'm bored; amuse me

[OrangeSodaKing]

although I prefer gilels over brendel too, people ARE entitled to their own opinion.

[anelacadillo]

Wow! this interpretation is simply unique!!!

I have heard so many..but I guess that now this is my favorite!! Thanks for posting these...

does someone have a video of this??

[jaaroosh]

I have a video with Gilels playing this sonata and I will upload it soon ;] However, that is not the same recording (in my opinion slightly worse) but you will see and judge... ;]

[dinulipatti1950]

how can you play that glissando octaves that regular and in tempo? wow...

[Asinvisible]

Arrau is Better!!!

[amyparking]

maybe in Chile he is

[freedomofopinion01]

Common´ "amyparking". What kind of a comment is that? We comment based on other parameters. Music is a universal language and hopefully their interpreters, wherever they come from, are the messengers of that language.

[amyparking]

the kind of comment warranted by Asinvisible's stupid remark, seeing he IS from Chile

[pianopractise]

...

[ratws]

Es ist unvorstellbar, wie beseelt diese göttliche Stimme der Musik war: Emil Gilels. Göttliche Stimme des Verstehens, als ob er Beethoven war. Unvergesslicher Emil Gilels.

[churrte]

What an interpretation of this master piece. Astonishing.

I'm impressed of the dynamics control, the phrasing. Well done!

[astinus007]

dam, i wish i can play that stretta that well = / scratech that, i wish i can play this song that well.. lol

[singsinsing]

I didn't even know that youtube has this video :]

absolutely my favourite interpretation of this sonata. I like Wilhelm Kempff's interpretation of this sonata, too, but for me Gilels plays this best.

[1xxichliebedichxx1]

킹왕짱!!!

[MystereTi]

Amazing...incredible...gilels.­..

[katkula]

Magnificent!!

[znanto]

All I hear is Gilels, where is Beethoven?

[pianotalent]

Gilels is the Beethoven!

[Ricky17Y]

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT FREAK?

[john9487]

thanks for the upload!

what a performer..

[leeyoung1991]

i like the part from 1.00 to 1.13, it's nice!

[TheManSAberi]

incredible.

[edcassells]

Listen to the articulation of each and every note in the very difficult stretta of 6:25 to 7:00. Masterful!

[churrte]

Amen dude!

[yoki33]

agreed lol

[tchebinai71]

what'is a stretta ? (I'm french) :)

[jaaroosh]

stretto (or stretta) is simply a temporary accelerando or hastening forward - just like in some parts of this sonata

[OrangeSodaKing]

like the broken chord triplets?

[lisgarazu]

what a feeling,great performance!!

[jhyounyo]

Probably the best Beethoven piano music interpreter ever. Regret he passed away before recording the whole sonatas by Beethoven.

[DorianGray2005]

Amazing! What a pianist, what an artist! I LOVE him

[kreutzo1]

absolutely astonishingª

[spirinak]

Cette sOnate est une perle rare !! Exelente interpretation !

Beethoven para la Vida (L)

[rmcnabb]

Peerless. That's the way it's meant to be played.

[elineangelica]

doesn't anyone have a videclip by gilels and this sonata? iv'e heard so much about it..

[marycicci]

è divina esecuzione!!!