Incredibly talented pianist Emil Gilels, musician and virtuoso, man of the century, consummate master
The Soviet era is one of the greatest and most recent periods in the history of Russia, it is customary to praise it, it is customary to criticize it, respond with hatred or nostalgia, it is not customary to just be indifferent to it.
These were difficult years, years of uninterrupted struggle, great achievements, grandiose ideas and terrible tragedies, in seventy years the Soviet people experienced as much as other nations could not have experienced in several centuries.
In a short time, a new state was built from the ashes of the civil war and revolution, an unprecedented ideology was created, and a new culture was brought to life. It was a time of strength, courage, incredible dynamics and energy.
The Soviet era also found its embodiment in music, one of the “heralds” of its “sound” was an incredibly talented pianist Emil Gilels, a musician and virtuoso, a man of the century, an unsurpassed master, whose playing absorbed all the best that was in the "Soviet" sound of the classics.
Every great pianist, like every great composer, has his own sound, a signature style that makes him different from everyone else. Technique, manner of performance, inspiration, virtuosity - all these qualities come largely from the character of the pianist, his life views and preferences.
The “eccentric” Glenn Gould saw in music an inexpressibly deep spiritual beginning, which he sought to convey to the listener. Gyorgy Cziffra, a man of the hardest fate, as if fighting against adversity, played incredibly joyfully, lightly, helping others with his music to find the strength to endure life's upheavals.
Alexey Sultanov was famous for his "infernal" performance, penetrating the viewer to the bone.
And Emil Gilels - a serious, restrained, strong man, embodied a game that was severe, dynamic, courageous, full of bright colors, a game that seemed to become a call to live and fight.
Perhaps Gilels' music made such a strong impression, among other things, because of the behavior of the virtuoso himself: Emil was always stern, reserved, absolutely unperturbed. He seemed to know that he was in complete control of the situation, his image and his game acted in harmonious tandem, making an indelible impression on the viewer.
“Milya Gilels is an outstanding child in terms of his rare abilities. Nature endowed him with wonderful hands and a rare ear, which is characteristic of those who were born exclusively for the piano playing, ”said Ya. I. Tkach about his young student when he was only thirteen.
Emil Gilels was not only an outstanding virtuoso with almost the best technique among Soviet musicians, and even musicians from all over the world of his period, he was equally a magnificent musician, capable of presenting the classics in his own strict but impressive manner.
Gilels' game was the embodiment of the Soviet era - powerful, restrained, harsh and courageous, full of dynamics and a passionate call to live.“The first thing that distinguishes Gilels is the masculinity and strong-willed intensity of the game. His performance is completely alien to sentimentality, mannerisms, effeminacy. The artistic thinking of Gilels does not know exaltation and pretentiousness. There is an excess of healthy energy in everything, naturally pouring out of his nature ... This is realistic, life-affirming art, the art of a close-up, energetic lines and colors, ”says another well-known virtuoso Yakov Milshtein about Emil’s performance.
Gilels' game was the embodiment of the Soviet era - powerful, restrained, harsh and courageous, full of dynamics and a passionate call to live, create, create, seek and assert one's place in life.
This style of performance has not lost its relevance even now, when there are many directions of music pursuing the same effect. Strange as it may seem, Gilels' game could well surpass modern techno, RnB, dubstep and other "energetic" areas of music precisely by the ability to give a person the will to live, inner strength and energy.
Fortunately, Gilels' legacy has survived in live recordings, studio LPs, hundreds of materials transferred to modern media and therefore available to those who want to know what truly masculine music looks like.
minion of fate
>Emil Grigoryevich Gilels was born in Odessa on October 6, 1916, having seen the decline of the Russian Empire, the dawn of the revolution and slightly anticipating the Soviet era, which gave him worldwide fame.
Emil came from a Jewish family: father Gregory was a worker, mother Esther devoted herself to caring for the family and home. Both friends and biographers of Gilels notice that he received a fairly good, but extremely harsh upbringing, his parents were rather tough people, which undoubtedly affected the character of the musician.
Having early felt a passion for music and a love for the stage, little Emil even encouraged children from neighboring courtyards to act out theatrical performances based on the plays he had written.
Even before completing his studies, Gilels became the winner of the first all-Union competition of musiciansGilels' first music teacher was Ya. I. Tkach, thanks to whose lessons, by the age of 13, Mil managed to show off his talents in public, giving a concert that ended with a standing ovation.
Then there was the Odessa Conservatory, where around the same years, contrary to the efforts of his father, a music teacher, the wayward, who also lived in Odessa, did not enter.
And the legendary Heinrich Neuhaus helped the young virtuoso achieve technical perfection already in Moscow, and here it is worth mentioning Svyatoslav Richter again, because, despite all the outstanding successes of Gilels, it was Richter, the “obstinate” pianist, that Heinrich Gustavovich called his favorite student.
On the other hand, Gilels himself admired his talents, having met the virtuoso while he was studying in Odessa.
Even before completing his studies, Gilels became famous as an inspired interpreter and a brilliant musician, he became the winner of the first all-Union competition of musicians, and then managed to win several prestigious European competitions. And then there was only fame, success, recognition and a bright line of the pianist's life that permeated the entire Soviet era.
Wives and lovers
>It would seem that stern and restrained, Gilels could hardly show his feelings especially clearly. However, his life story is marked by bright moments associated with women.
There were some tragedies - the maestro's first wife, pianist Roza Tamarkina, with whom he was brought together by the war years, when Gilels performed a lot around the USSR (including in besieged Leningrad), passed away early, leaving the musician, who had not passed the threshold of thirty years, a widower .
Emil Gilels passed away in 1986, but remained the country's most talented and revered musicianIn the harsh war years, Gilels also had a stormy romance with Bonya Girshberg, a Latvian Jewess, a communist who managed to serve time for active political work and lost almost her entire family in fascist camps.
Bonya and Emil met during the visit of the virtuoso to Kirov, where the emigrant, who knew almost no Russian, worked as a nurse with the rank of junior lieutenant. An ardent feeling flared up between them, which lasted for several years and affected not only these two, but also most of the famous musicians of that time, through whom Emil passed on his sensual and inspirational letters to Bonet.
The wedding did not work out - Hirshberg was "afraid" of the pianist's hard temper and could not connect her life with him, she married a military surgeon, with whom she happily spent the rest of her life. And Gilels no less happily linked his life with the poetess and enthusiastic admirer of his talent Farizet Khutsistova, who managed to leave us an amazingly systematized archive of more than 11 thousand documents about the life of Gilels.
Emil Gilels passed away on October 14, 1986 in Moscow, having survived the entire great Soviet era from A to Z, but, probably fortunately, without seeing the collapse of the country. He was a favorite of Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, the most talented and revered musician in the country.
GILELS Emil Grigorievich (19.X 1916 - 14.X 1985)
nar. art. USSR (1954), laureate of the State. (1946) and Lenin (1962) Prizes, Hero of Socialist Labor (1976)
Emil Grigoryevich did not like to give interviews, rarely spoke in print. Perhaps only once did he remember the distant Odessa time. “As a child, I didn’t sleep much. At night, when everything was already quiet, I took out my father’s ruler from under the pillow and began to conduct. The small dark nursery turned into a dazzling concert hall. the orchestra froze, I raise the conductor's baton, and the air fills with beautiful sounds, the sounds grow stronger and stronger, forte, fortissimo!
But then the door usually opened a little, and the alarmed mother interrupted the concert at the most interesting place; - Are you waving your arms again and eating at night instead of sleeping? Have you taken the line again? Give it back now and go to sleep in two minutes! During the day I also had important things to do. I wrote a play about a man who wants to study music and become a celebrity.
The premiere of this play took place in the front door of our house. All the children from our yard were involved in the performance. The scenery and decoration consisted of rugs smuggled out of the house. I played the main role of a musician and managed to be a prompter at the same time.
My childhood thoughts were completely absorbed in music."
His dream came true, perhaps sooner than he expected.
Impressions of an eyewitness: “In the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, which was overcrowded, general excitement reigned. After the fantasy performed by Gilels on the theme of “The Marriage of Figaro” by Mozart and Liszt, the entire hall stood up. Strangers approached each other, exchanged enthusiastic exclamations and even entered into fierce disputes over the insufficient, in their opinion, praises lavished on E. Gilels. Looking at this buzzing, gesticulating human swarm, one could immediately and unmistakably determine that a great, joyful event had happened. The young man stood facing the audience and bowed as calmly as he had sat at the piano a minute before and extracted incomprehensible sounds from it. In general, the most remarkable property of the external behavior of a virtuoso is his complete equanimity. This is not a simulated calm, but a natural state dictated by physical and mental health and a huge pop talent.
Yes, A. Alschwang turned out to be absolutely right: the Moscow audience, who attended the auditions of the All-Union Competition in 1933, witnessed the birth of one of the leading figures in the performing arts of the 20th century.
The future winner of the competition came to Moscow from Odessa, where at the age of 13 he gave his first independent concert. The teacher of the still young pianist Ya. I. Tkach was extremely perceptive in assessing the capabilities of his pet: "Milya Gilels is an outstanding child in terms of his rare abilities. Nature endowed him with wonderful hands and a rare ear, which is typical of those who were born exclusively for piano playing." Truly so; he was born to be a pianist. And in the future, the amazing organicity of his playing, some kind of internal unity with the keyboard, with the instrument, was repeatedly noted. All this required a careful attitude, hard work under the guidance of an experienced teacher. B. M. Reingbald became such a teacher for Gilels at the Odessa Conservatory. Much later, an outstanding artist wrote: “... justice requires me to say that Berta Mikhailovna was my true musical educator ... bring out your best features.
Of course, like any great artist, Gilels developed over the years, enriched his inner world, opening more and more new pages of the musical treasury for himself and for people. However, already on the threshold of maturity, he was an extremely integral nature in artistic terms. “I am absolutely convinced,” said J. Flier, congratulating his colleague on his 60th birthday, “that at the age of 16 Gilels was a world-class pianist. him only as a fantastic virtuoso, who “viewed” (or rather, “listened to”) an amazing musician in him ... Gilels’s art already in his youth was a rare fusion of artistic intelligence, creative imagination, natural pianism, excellent sense of form and style. .. For me, the performing path of Emil Grigorievich is a single monolith."
Despite the startling start, Gilels' development as an artist proceeded on the whole with fundamental consistency. An important role in this process was played by the years of improvement with G. G. Neuhaus at the Higher School of Artistic Excellence (current assistantship-internship) of the Moscow Conservatory (1935-1938). During this period, world fame came to the young pianist. Following the second prize of the Vienna Competition (1936), a triumphant victory at the International Competition named after E. Isai in Brussels (1938). Since then - decades of tireless concert activity around the world, which led Gilels to the number of the greatest pianists of our time.
It is extremely difficult to briefly characterize the most revealing features of the creative image of a great and multifaceted artist (namely, Gilels is such). To a large extent, one of Spinoza's subtle paradoxes is true: "To define is to limit." Nevertheless, one can agree with J. Milstein when he writes: “The first thing that distinguishes Gilels is the masculinity and strong-willed intensity of the game. His performance is completely alien to sentimentality, mannerisms, and effeminacy. but also in gloomy, melancholy episodes, he always has a few severe and deliberately restrained. Gilels' artistic thinking does not know exaltation and pretentiousness. In everything one feels an excess of healthy energy naturally pouring out of his nature ... This is a realistic, life-affirming art, the art of a close-up , energetic lines and colors".
The above observation refers to 1948, when the artist had not only a bright youth, but also the harsh years of the war, performances in front of front-line soldiers in besieged Leningrad, and the first foreign tours. Almost ten years later, G. Kogan, as it were, continues the quoted passage: “Gilels is all earthly, all on earth. The unstoppable force of life triumphantly rejoices in the pianist’s playing, splashes from under his fingers, saturating the hall with electricity: the audience seems to be getting younger, their eyes shine ", the blood circulates faster in the veins. The artist's element is powerful dynamic growths, the music is courageous and powerful. The piano sounds extremely dense, massive," weighty "".
The mid-1950s was already the time for worldwide recognition of the artist, who was one of the first to represent Soviet pianistic art on the stages of many countries, including the United States of America.
And, finally, one more characteristic that reinforces the previous ones. I. Popov wrote in 1970: “In terms of emotional fullness, in terms of the imperious imperativeness of musical speech, his creative style resembles the interpretation of musical works by the largest conductors of our time. Nothing external, no sound ramplissages, no deliberate effects, commonplaces. Each phrase sounds bright, impressive. All the details are sculptured, and at the same time all of them are correlated with the whole, they serve to reveal the main musical and dramatic concept of the composition... The pianist's performing concepts are always amazingly simple, but this is the highest simplicity, which is diametrically opposed to primitiveness and is its antipode.. There is nothing more difficult in art than to achieve this high simplicity, these heights of mastery, from which boundless figurative distances open up. So, it would seem that Gilels' artistic credo has not undergone any significant changes over the years. No, only a superficial view will lead to such a conclusion. All the mentioned features really formed the foundation of the pianist's artistic constructions. And it is quite natural that he rightfully won the reputation of a great interpreter of Beethoven's work. Reread the above statements again, and it will become clear to you how the general orientation of Gilels' art corresponds to the content of many of Beethoven's works, and in particular his five piano concertos, the interpretation of which became one of the most outstanding achievements of the mature Gilels. A long journey led the artist to the Beethoven cycles, on which he mastered all kinds of repertoire areas - from the virtuosity of Liszt's fantasies and rhapsodies to the deep concentration of Schubert or Brahms.
Critics Gilels brought a lot of trouble. Having enrolled the pianist in the ranks of the outstanding "Beethovenists", they sometimes excluded, for example, Mozart from Gilels's "domains". Later, the artist's Mozart programs evoked the most enthusiastic responses. The same with Chopin. One reviewer remarked in 1972 that it was simply hard to recognize the "collected and disciplined Gilels" when he was "in a state of ecstatic frenzy" while performing Chopin's First Ballade. Gilels himself once noticed that he loves the "resistance of the material." And he always got over it.
The pianist's repertoire is, of course, enormous, and it is impossible here even to touch briefly on all its aspects. Nevertheless, Gilels' special interest in Russian classics should be pointed out. Everyone knows a truly standard interpretation of Tchaikovsky's First Concerto. However, Gilels acted as a convinced propagandist for two other concerts of the great composer. The role of the artist is also extremely significant in the "rehabilitation" of Medtner's piano legacy. It is difficult to exaggerate Gilels' contribution to Soviet music as well. In his Programs we find major works by D. Shostakovich, A. Khachaturian, D. Kabalevsky, M. Weinberg, A. Babadzhanyan and, of course, S. Prokofiev. The Eighth Sonata by S. Prokofiev was performed by Gilels for the first time.
Gilels' artistic, musical and social activities are diverse. In the 1940s and 1950s, he paid considerable attention to ensemble performance, performing in various instrumental duets, trios, together with the Beethoven Quartet. It can be said that the artist's recordings on records are marked with a "mark of quality"; among the latter, perhaps, first of all, we should highlight the recording of all five Beethoven concertos accompanied by an orchestra conducted by the American conductor D. Sell.
From 1938, Gilels taught at the Moscow Conservatory, and from 1952 he was its professor. Among his students are laureates of international competitions I. Zhukov, M. Mdivani and others.
Emil Gilels enjoyed the highest authority in the music world. He was constantly invited to the jury of the largest performing competitions (Paris, Brussels, etc.). It was he who headed the pianistic jury of the first four international Tchaikovsky competitions. Gilels was elected an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London (1967), an honorary professor at the Budapest Conservatory (1968) and an honorary academician of the Roman Academy "Santa Cecilia" (1980), was awarded the Gold Medal of the City of Paris (1967), the Belgian Order of Leopold I (1968) and many other high awards.
For about half a century, music lovers met with Emil Gilels. But hardly anyone could claim that he already knows everything in the palette of a wonderful pianist. Each of his concerts was the discovery of new worlds in the field of artistic thought. “Among our artists, who are at the zenith of fame and creative maturity,” wrote G. Shokhman in the magazine “Musical Life,” Gilels is perhaps distinguished by the greatest dynamism: some changes are taking place in his art all the time, and, in addition to the anticipated "Guaranteed by the name and past meetings, at the artist's concerts you often come across unexpected and sometimes even stunning evidence of the intense, one might say, explosive inner spiritual life of the artist." That is why it would be so appropriate in conclusion to recall, as applied to Gilels, paraphrasing Pushkin's line about Rossini, who was "eternally the same, eternally new"...
L and t.: Delson V. Emil Gilels. - M., 1959; Rabinovich D. Portraits of pianists.-M., 1970; Khentova S. Emil Gilels.- M., 1967; Laureates of the Lenin Prize. Sat. - M., 1970; Pride of Soviet music. - M., 1987.
Cit. based on the book: Grigoriev L., Platek J. "Modern pianists". Moscow, "Soviet Composer", 1990
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One of the prominent music critics once said that it would be pointless to discuss the topic - who is the first, who is the second, who is the third among modern Soviet pianists. The table of ranks in art is more than a dubious matter, this critic reasoned; artistic sympathies and tastes of people are different: some may like such and such a performer, others will give preference to such and such... determine whose art causes the greatest public outcry, enjoys the most general recognition in a wide circle of listeners" (Kogan G.M. Questions of pianism.-M., 1968. S. 376.). Such a formulation of the question must be recognized, apparently, as the only correct one. If, following the logic of the critic, talking about performers whose art enjoyed the most “general” recognition for several decades caused “the greatest public outcry,” E. Gilels should undoubtedly be named one of the first.
The work of Gilels is justly referred to as the highest achievement of pianism of the 20th century. They are attributed both in our country, where each meeting with an artist turned into an event of a large cultural scale, and abroad. The world press has repeatedly and unambiguously spoken out on this score. “There are many talented pianists in the world and a few great masters who tower over everyone. Emil Gilels is one of them ... "("Humanite", 1957, June 27). "Piano titans like Gilels are born once in a century" ("Mainiti Shimbun", 1957, October 22). These are some, far from the most expansive of the statements about Gilels by foreign reviewers ...
If you need piano sheet music, look it up on the Notestore.
Emil Grigoryevich Gilels was born in Odessa. Neither his father nor mother were professional musicians, but the family loved music. There was a piano in the house, and this circumstance, as often happens, played an important role in the fate of the future artist.
“As a child, I didn’t sleep much,” Gilels later said. “At night, when everything was already quiet, I took out my father’s ruler from under the pillow and began to conduct.
The small dark nursery was transformed into a dazzling concert hall. Standing on the stage, I felt the breath of a huge crowd behind me, and the orchestra stood waiting in front of me. I raise the conductor's baton and the air is filled with beautiful sounds. The sounds are getting louder and louder. Forte, fortissimo!
... But then the door usually opened slightly, and the alarmed mother interrupted the concert at the most interesting place:
- Are you waving your arms again and eating at night instead of sleeping? Have you taken the line again? Now give it back and go to sleep in two minutes!”
When the boy was about five years old, he was taken to the teacher of the Odessa Music College, Yakov Isaakovich Tkach. He was an educated, knowledgeable musician, a pupil of the famous Raul Pugno. Judging by the memories that have been preserved about him, he is an erudite in terms of various editions of the piano repertoire. And one more thing: a staunch supporter of the German school of etudes. At Tkach, young Gilels went through many opuses by Leshgorn, Bertini, Moshkovsky; this laid the strongest foundation of his technique. The weaver was strict and exacting in his studies; From the very beginning, Gilels was accustomed to work - regular, well-organized, not knowing any concessions or indulgences.
“I remember my first performance,” continued Gilels. “A seven-year-old student of the Odessa Music School, I went up to the stage to play Mozart's sonata in C major. Parents and teachers sat behind in solemn expectation. The famous composer Grechaninov came to the school concert. Everyone was holding real printed programs in their hands. On the program, which I saw for the first time in my life, it was printed: “Mozart's Sonata Spanish. Mile Gilels. I decided that "sp." - it means Spanish and was very surprised. I've finished playing. The piano was right next to the window. Beautiful birds flew to the tree outside the window. Forgetting that this was a stage, I began to look at the birds with great interest. Then they approached me and quietly offered to leave the stage as soon as possible. I reluctantly left, looking out the window. This is how my first performance ended. (Gilels E.G. My dreams came true!//Musical life. 1986. No. 19. P. 17.).
At the age of 13, Gilels enters the class of Berta Mikhailovna Reingbald. Here he replays a huge amount of music, learns a lot of new things - and not only in the field of piano literature, but also in other genres: opera, symphony. Reingbald introduces the young man to the circles of the Odessa intelligentsia, introduces him to a number of interesting people. Love for the theater comes, for books - Gogol, O "Henry, Dostoevsky; the spiritual life of a young musician becomes richer, richer, more diverse every year. A man of great internal culture, one of the best teachers who worked in those years at the Odessa Conservatory, Reingbald She helped her student a lot. She brought him close to what he most needed. Most importantly, she attached herself to him with all her heart; it would not be an exaggeration to say that neither before nor after her did Gilels the student meet such attitude towards himself ... He retained a feeling of deep gratitude to Reingbald forever.
And soon fame came to him. The year 1933 came, the First All-Union Competition of Performing Musicians was announced in the capital. Going to Moscow, Gilels did not rely too much on luck. What happened came as a complete surprise to himself, to Reingbald, to everyone else. One of the pianist's biographers, returning to the distant days of Gilels' competitive debut, paints the following picture:
“The appearance of a gloomy young man on the stage went unnoticed.
He approached the piano in a businesslike manner, raised his hands, hesitated, and, stubbornly pursing his lips, began to play.
The hall was worried. It became so quiet that it seemed that people were frozen in immobility. Eyes turned to the stage. And from there came a mighty current, capturing the listeners and forcing them to obey the performer. The tension grew. It was impossible to resist this force, and after the final sounds of the Marriage of Figaro, everyone rushed to the stage. The rules have been broken. The audience applauded. The jury applauded. Strangers shared their delight with each other. Many had tears of joy in their eyes.
And only one person stood calmly and calmly, although everything worried him - it was the performer himself. (Khentova S. Emil Gilels. - M., 1967. P. 6.).
The success was complete and unconditional. The impression of meeting a teenager from Odessa resembled, as they said at that time, the impression of an exploding bomb. Newspapers were full of his photographs, the radio spread the news about him to all corners of the Motherland. And then say: the first pianist who won first in the history of the country competition of creative youth. However, Gilels' triumphs did not end there. Three more years have passed - and he has the second prize at the International Competition in Vienna. Then - a gold medal at the most difficult competition in Brussels (1938). The current generation of performers is accustomed to frequent competitive battles, now you can’t surprise with laureate regalia, titles, laurel wreaths of various merits. Before the war it was different. Fewer contests were held, victories meant more.
In the biographies of prominent artists, one sign is often emphasized, the constant evolution in creativity, the unstoppable movement forward. A talent of a lower rank sooner or later is fixed at certain milestones, a talent of a large scale does not linger for a long time on any of them. “The biography of Gilels ... - once wrote G. G. Neuhaus, who supervised the young man's studies at the School of Excellence at the Moscow Conservatory (1935-1938), - is remarkable for its steady, consistent line of growth and development. Many, even very talented pianists, get stuck at some point, beyond which there is no particular movement (upward movement!) The reverse is with Gilels. From year to year, from concert to concert, his performance flourishes, enriches, improves" (Neigauz G. G. The Art of Emil Gilels // Reflections, Memoirs, Diaries. P. 267.).
So it was at the beginning of Gilels' artistic path, the same was preserved in the future - right up to the last stage of his activity. On it, by the way, it is necessary to stop especially, to consider it in more detail. First, it is extremely interesting in itself. Secondly, it is relatively less covered in the press than the previous ones. Musical criticism, previously so attentive to Gilels, in the late seventies and early eighties did not seem to keep up with the pianist's artistic evolution.
So, what was characteristic of him during this period? That which finds perhaps its most complete expression in the term conceptuality. Extremely clear identification of the artistic and intellectual concept in the performed work: its "subtext", the leading figurative and poetic idea. The primacy of the internal over the external, the meaningful over the technically formal in the process of making music. It's no secret that conceptuality in the true sense of the word - the one that Goethe had in mind when he claimed that all in a work of art is determined, ultimately, by the depth and spiritual value of the concept - a rather rare phenomenon in musical performance. Strictly speaking, characteristic only of achievements of the highest order - such as the work of Gilels, in which everywhere, from a piano concerto to a miniature for one and a half to two minutes of sound, a serious, capacious, psychologically condensed interpretive idea is in the foreground.
Once Gilels gave excellent concerts; his game amazed and captured with technical power; telling the truth the material here noticeably prevailed over the spiritual. What was, was. Subsequent meetings with him I would like to attribute, rather, to a kind of conversation about music. Conversations with the maestro, who is wise with vast experience in performing activities, is enriched by many years of artistic reflections that have become more and more complicated over the years, which ultimately gave special weight to his statements and judgments as an interpreter. Most likely, the artist's feelings were far from spontaneity and straightforward openness (he, however, was always concise and restrained in his emotional revelations); but they had a capacity, and a rich scale of overtones, and hidden, as if compressed, inner strength.
This made itself felt in almost every issue of Gilels' extensive repertoire. But, perhaps, the emotional world of the pianist was seen most clearly in his Mozart. In contrast to the lightness, grace, carefree playfulness, coquettish grace and other accessories of the “gallant style” that became familiar when interpreting Mozart’s compositions, something immeasurably more serious and significant dominated in Gilels’ versions of these compositions. Quiet, but very intelligible, scantly clear pianistic reprimand; slowed down, at times emphatically slow tempos (this technique, by the way, was used more and more effectively by the pianist); majestic, confident, imbued with great dignity performing manners - as a result, the general tone is not quite usual, as they said, for the traditional interpretation: emotional and psychological tension, electrification, spiritual concentration ... “Maybe history is deceiving us: is Mozart - is this rococo? - the foreign press wrote, not without a share of pomp, after the performances of Gilels in the homeland of the great composer. - Maybe we pay too much attention to costumes, scenery, jewelry and hairstyles? Emil Gilels made us think about many traditional and familiar things" (Schumann Karl. South German newspaper. 1970. 31 Jan.). Indeed, Gilels' Mozart - whether it be the Twenty-seventh or Twenty-eighth Piano Concertos, the Third or Eighth Sonatas, the D-minor Fantasy or the F-major variations on a theme by Paisiello (The works most frequently featured on Gilels' Mozart poster in the seventies.)- did not awaken the slightest association with artistic values a la Lancre, Boucher and so on. The pianist's vision of the sound poetics of the author of the Requiem was akin to what once inspired Auguste Rodin, the author of the well-known sculptural portrait of the composer: the same emphasis on Mozart's introspection, Mozart's conflict and drama, sometimes hidden behind a charming smile, Mozart's hidden sadness.
Such spiritual disposition, "tonality" of feelings was generally close to Gilels. Like every major, non-standard feeling artist, he had mine emotional coloring, which imparted a characteristic, individual-personal coloring to the sound pictures he created. In this coloring, strict, twilight-darkened tones slipped more and more clearly over the years, severity and masculinity became more and more noticeable, awakening vague reminiscences - if we continue analogies with the fine arts - associated with the works of old Spanish masters, painters of the Morales, Ribalta, Ribera schools. , Velazquez... (One of the foreign critics once expressed the opinion that "in the pianist's playing one can always feel something from la grande tristezza - great sadness, as Dante called this feeling.") Such, for example, are Gilels the Third and Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concertos, his own sonatas, Twelfth and Twenty-sixth, "Pathétique" and "Appassionata", "Lunar", and Twenty-seventh; such are the ballads, op. 10 and Fantasia, Op. 116 Brahms, instrumental lyrics by Schubert and Grieg, plays by Medtner, Rachmaninov and much more. The works that accompanied the artist throughout a significant part of his creative biography clearly demonstrated the metamorphoses that took place over the years in Gilels's poetic worldview; sometimes it seemed that a mournful reflection seemed to fall on their pages ...
The stage style of the artist, the style of the “late” Gilels, has also undergone changes over time. Let us turn, for example, to old critical reports, recall what the pianist once had - in his younger years. There was, according to the testimony of those who heard him, “the masonry of wide and strong constructions”, there was a “mathematical verified strong, steel blow”, combined with “elemental power and stunning pressure”; there was the game of a “genuine piano athlete”, “the jubilant dynamics of a virtuoso festival” (G. Kogan, A. Alschwang, M. Grinberg, etc.). Then something else came. The “steel” of Gilels’s finger strike became less and less noticeable, the “spontaneous” began to be taken under control more and more strictly, the artist moved further and further away from the piano “athleticism”. Yes, and the term "jubilation" has become, perhaps, not the most suitable for defining his art. Some bravura, virtuoso pieces sounded more like Gilels anti-virtuosity- for example, Liszt's Second Rhapsody, or the famous G minor, Op. 23, a prelude by Rachmaninov, or Schumann's Toccata (all of which were often performed by Emil Grigorievich on his clavirabends in the mid and late seventies). Pompous with a huge number of concert-goers, in Gilels' transmission this music turned out to be devoid of even a shadow of pianistic dashing, pop bravado. His game here - as elsewhere - looked a little muted in colors, was technically elegant; the movement was deliberately restrained, the speeds were moderated - all this made it possible to enjoy the pianist's sound, extremely beautiful and perfect.
Increasingly, the attention of the public in the seventies and eighties was riveted on Gilels's clavirabends to slow, concentrated, in-depth episodes of his works, to music imbued with reflection, contemplation, and philosophical immersion in oneself. The listener experienced here perhaps the most exciting sensations: he clearly awake I saw a lively, open, intense pulsation of the performer's musical thought. One could see the “beating” of this thought, its unfolding in sound space and time. Something similar, probably, could be experienced, following the work of the artist in his studio, watching the sculptor transforming a block of marble with his chisel into an expressive sculptural portrait. Gilels involved the audience in the very process of sculpting a sound image, forcing them to feel together with themselves the most subtle and complex vicissitudes of this process. Here is one of the most characteristic signs of his performance. “To be not only a witness, but also a participant in that extraordinary holiday, which is called a creative experience, an inspiration for an artist - what can give the viewer greater spiritual pleasure?” (Zakhava B.E. The skill of the actor and director. - M., 1937. P. 19.)- said the famous Soviet director and theater figure B. Zakhava. Whether to the spectator, the visitor of the concert hall - isn't everything the same? To be an accomplice in the holiday of Gilels' creative insights meant to experience really high spiritual joys.
And about one more thing in the pianism of the “late” Gilels. His sound canvases - it was the very integrity, compactness, internal unity. At the same time, it was impossible not to pay attention to the subtle, truly jewelry dressing of “little things”. Gilels was always famous for the first (monolithic forms); in the second, he achieved great skill precisely in the last one and a half to two decades.
Its melodic reliefs and contours were distinguished by a special filigree workmanship. Each intonation was elegantly and accurately outlined, extremely sharp in its edges, clearly "visible" to the public. The smallest motive bends, cells, links - everything was imbued with expressiveness. “Already the way Gilels presented this first phrase is enough to put him among the greatest pianists of our time,” wrote one of the foreign critics. This refers to the opening phrase of one of Mozart's sonatas played by the pianist in Salzburg in 1970; with the same reason, the reviewer could refer to the phrasing in any of the works that appeared then in the list performed by Gilels.
It is known that every major concert performer intones music in his own way. Igumnov and Feinberg, Goldenweiser and Neuhaus, Oborin and Ginzburg "pronounced" the musical text in different ways. The intonation style of Gilels the pianist was sometimes associated with his peculiar and characteristic colloquial speech: stinginess and accuracy in the selection of expressive material, laconic style, disregard for external beauties; in every word - weight, significance, categoricalness, will ...
Everyone who managed to attend the last performances of Gilels will surely remember them forever. "Symphonic Studies" and Four Pieces, Op. 32 Schumann, Fantasies, Op. 116 and Brahms' Variations on a Theme of Paganini, Song Without Words in A flat major ("Duet") and Etude in A minor by Mendelssohn, Five Preludes, Op. 74 and Scriabin's Third Sonata, Beethoven's Twenty-ninth Sonata and Prokofiev's Third - all this is unlikely to be erased in the memory of those who heard Emil Grigorievich in the early eighties.
It is impossible not to pay attention, looking at the above list, that Gilels, despite his very middle age, included in his programs extremely difficult compositions - only Brahms' "Variations" are worth something. Or Beethoven's Twenty-Ninth... But he could, as they say, make his life easier by playing something simpler, not so responsible, technically less risky. But, firstly, he never made anything easier for himself in creative matters; it was not in his rules. And secondly: Gilels was very proud; at the time of their triumphs - even more so. For him, apparently, it was important to show and prove that his excellent pianistic technique did not pass over the years. That he remained the same Gilels as he was known before. Basically, it was. And some technical flaws and failures that happened to the pianist in his declining years did not change the overall picture.
The art of Emil Grigorievich Gilels was a large and complex phenomenon. It is not surprising that it sometimes evoked diverse and unequal reactions. (V. Sofronitsky once spoke about his profession: only that in it has a price that is debatable - and he was right.) during the game, surprise, sometimes disagreement with some decisions of E. Gilels [...] paradoxically change after the concert to the deepest satisfaction. Everything falls into place" (Concert Review: 1984, February-March / / Soviet Music. 1984. No. 7. P. 89.). The observation is correct. Indeed, in the end, everything fell into place "in its place" ... For Gilels's work possessed an enormous power of artistic suggestion, it was always truthful and in everything. And there can be no other real art! After all, to use Chekhov’s wonderful words, “it’s especially good because you can’t lie in it ... You can lie in love, in politics, in medicine, you can deceive people and the Lord God himself ... - but you can’t deceive in art. ..”
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He began to study music early, his first teacher was J. I. Tkach, who at one time studied in Paris with the famous Raoul Punyo (R. Pugno's teacher was J. Mathias, a student of Chopin).
Emil Grigoryevich Gilels was born in Odessa on October 19, 1916. He began to study music early, his first teacher was J. I. Tkach, who at one time studied in Paris with the famous Raoul Punyo (R. Pugno's teacher was J. Mathias, a student of Chopin). The weaver immediately realized with what talent he was dealing. Gilels was only 9 years old when the teacher wrote in his description: "In the future, the USSR will be enriched by a world-class pianist."
On June 11, 1929, Gilels gave his first solo concert. Fifty years later, in 1979, he celebrated this event with concerts at the Odessa Opera House and in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.
In 1930, Gilels entered the Odessa Conservatory in the class of B. M. Reingbald, whom he considered his true musical teacher, and a year later he played at the All-Ukrainian Competition of Musicians in Kharkov. In the same 1931, Arthur Rubinstein, who came on tour to Odessa, listened to him, later recalling his first meeting with Gilels more than once: “I can’t find words to describe how he played. I’ll say one thing: if he ever comes to the United States There's nothing for me to do here."
In 1933, at the First All-Union Competition of Performing Musicians, a sixteen-year-old young man little known in Moscow overturned all forecasts regarding the outcome of the competition. "I remember well," said the pianist Maria Grinberg, "how he played Liszt's Paraphrase on a theme from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, and how the whole audience stood up at the last climax." Having unconditionally won the competition, Gilels became famous throughout the country. He wanted to be heard everywhere. And he played a lot, so much that there was not enough time for the necessary calm work. And then, with his characteristic determination, the young pianist interrupts his concert performances and returns to Odessa, to Reingbald. After graduating from the conservatory in November 1935, Gilels went to Moscow, to the School of Higher Mastery at the Moscow Conservatory, where G. G. Neuhaus became its leader. Soon Otto Klemperer arrives on tour in Moscow and Gilels plays Beethoven's Third Concerto with him. The playwright Alexander Afinogenov wrote in his diary: Gilels "touched the keys - and the piano rang with some kind of purity and penetration. And Klemperer led the orchestra, as if laying it under the piano - creating a soft background for the performer, from this the piano won even more, and the audience appreciated this is".
In 1938, the Eugene Ysaye International Piano Competition was held in Brussels, the prestige of which was extremely high, and the program was particularly difficult. Just a list of the names of the jury members can make any musician tremble: Walter Gieseking, Emil Sauer, Arthur Rubinstein, Robert Casadesus, Samuel Feinberg, Carlo Cecchi, Leopold Stokowski... The composition of the participants was very strong, suffice it to say that among them was Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. Gilels won a resounding victory. Emil Sauer, a student of Franz Liszt and Nikolai Rubinstein, said that he had not heard such a talent in the last half century, in other words, since the time of his great teachers.
But it was not in the musician's rules to quietly reap the fruits of success - he works hard, not giving himself a break. In the same year, the School of Higher Excellence was left behind, and Gilels began teaching at the Moscow Conservatory. The Great Patriotic War began. Gilels plays in military units, in hospitals, in the rear; one of the first goes to besieged Leningrad. In 1945, he speaks in Potsdam at the conference of the heads of government of the USSR, the USA, and Great Britain.
After the end of the war, he was given the most important mission: for the first time to represent Soviet art in many countries, the art of the victorious country. So, in 1955, he was the first of the Soviet musicians to go on tour in the United States, where he made a sensation.
Years passed. Gilels' concert activity took on a global scale. Wherever he played - everywhere triumphs became almost the usual "background". He has performed with the most celebrated orchestras and conductors, and his records have entered the homes of millions of people. September 12, 1985 Gilels gave a concert in Helsinki, which turned out to be the last in his life; a month later, on October 14, he died suddenly in Moscow.
Gilels possessed an immense repertoire, he was universal in his ability to make "his" music of various eras and styles - from Mozart to Prokofiev, from Beethoven to Stravinsky.
