Estos registros proceden de conciertos celebrados en el Royal Festival Hall de Londres durante el mes de julio de 1967; concretamente de los correspondientes a los días 10 y 13, respectivamente. Se percibe la mano de Klemperer en la orquesta, que tan solo unos dos años atrás había grabado las obras con Barenboim al teclado. Pero Boult no poseía la sabiduría beethoveniana del director alemán, y los resultados difieren bastante de los suyos. Gilels, por su parte, quien se reveló como un gran intérprete de muchas de las sonatas, casi nunca obtuvo similares resultados en sus diversos acercamientos a los conciertos del compositor de la Heroica. Del disco que nos ocupa me ha gustado mucho más la versión del Primer Concierto que la del Tercero, no ya solo porque la inspiración tanto del pianista como del director es apreciablemente mayor en aquél, sino porque también en él parecen confluirf mejor sus conceptos. Tal y como están las cosas en el mercado, se sobreentiende que publicaciones como esta van dirigidas a un tipo de público muy especial; es decir admiradores de ambos intérpretes y coleccionistas. A muchos de ellos les gustará este disco.

Make no mistake, this is a fine performance and a good recording; Gilels and Boult give good, solid readings…

To read the complete review, please visit American Record Guide online.

Elegance and enviable virtuosity in two concerto performances from 1967

Russian soloists seemed to form a strong bond with Adrian Boult. Rostropovich’s best studio Dvořák concerto performance was given with the veteran British conductor. And anyone who has seen David Oistrakh’s filmed performance of the Beethoven concerto with Boult will appreciate the solidity of the professional rapport between them. The rapport extended to pianist Emil Gilels, whose July 1967 performances of these two Beethoven concertos simply reinforces the virtues of their collaboration, and also adds to the known discography. Boult had made a famous wartime 78 set of the C minor with Solomon. Gilels recorded the cycle in Cleveland with that beacon of bonhomie, gimlet eyed George Szell. He also recorded the C minor with Cluytens, and taped the Fourth and Fifth with Leopold Ludwig.

Boult proves his sagacious self. There may be the merest hint of unease orchestrally in the C major, but things very quickly settle down to a lucid exposition. The playing is excellent, even droll in places. Gilels sweeps into the first movement cadenza—the more concise of the two is played. The slow movement is highly expressive, whilst the finale is vital and engaging, with ensemble at its tightest.

In the C minor Gilels can be trenchant, almost gruff in places, but he is also precise in articulation, with fine, even trills. He reserves poetry of a direct kind for the slow movement where the winds’ phraseology is admirable, and fine spirits are released in the finale, but are ever subject to the firmest of rhythmic control. The triumph of the playing is an index of Gilels own priorities, and strongly to be admired. My own taste is rather more for the kind of thing that the then Stephen Bishop Kovacevich and Colin Davis conjured up at a few years later in their commercial recording—but there’s no denying the results of the Gilels-Boult collaboration, which is hugely and effectively realised on its own terms.

There is some high end hiss here but it’s not disturbing. The tapes come from the BBC and have been licensed to ICA Classics.