Emil Gilels: Live in Moscow, Vol.1 (DVD)

Gilels (1916-1985) was one of the 20th century’s foremost pianists. Like many Russian artists of his era, he was virtually unknown in the West until the cultural thaw of the mid-’50s. Though Gilels’ repertoire was far-ranging, the music of the German Romantic era benefited particularly from his burnished tone, strong technique and unfussy yet elegant musicianship. The 1983 recital preserved on this DVD is devoted to the music of Schumann, Brahms, and Mendelssohn, including Brahms’s Paganini Variations (Book I) and Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes.
Color, 93 minutes, 4:3, All regions

Brahms: Paganini Variations (Book 1), Op. 35
Brahms: Fantasien, Op. 116
Schumann: Vier Klavierstücke, Op. 32
Schumann: Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13

Encores:
Mendelssohn: Songs Without Words, Book Three, Op. 38, “Duet”
Mendelssohn: Etude in A minor, Op. 104b