ANDRÉ CLUYTENS & EMIL GILELS
RAVEL: DAPHNIS ET CHLOÉ - SUITE NO. 2;
MUSSORGSKY: PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
TCHAIKOVSKY: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1
All filmed in Paris in 1959 and 1960.
Source: INA Archive
BONUS: EMIL GILELS PERFORMS PROKOFIEV'S PIANO SONATA NO. 3
Filmed in London, 19 February 1959.
Source: BBC Archive
DVA 7243 4 90125 9 2

Viewers of Emil Gilels playing Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in 1959 will note with some amusement that in the Concerto's finale Gilels's fingers move at such lightning speed that the camera can barely keep up with them. It's truly amazing playing, solidly supported by the ORTF Orchestra under the Belgian maestro André Cluytens. Ravel was of course a Cluytens speciality (witness his many Ravel recordings for EMI Classics). The same DVD features vivid performances of the aromatic Daphnis et Chloé Second Suite, Ravel's vivid orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (with vibrant brass sonorities that were typical of French orchestras of the period) and the return of Gilels for a compelling performance of Prokofiev's concise Third Sonata.

back to series overview | back to last page | next in the series