…Kondrashin has his LPO in fine Slavic fettle. Insofar as the Beethoven Concerto reveals the thoughtful, passionate wizard in Gilels, the Tchaikovsky unleashes the firebrand who can just as easily confide tender intimacies in his native colors.  Even for a studio-conceived performance, the Tchaikovsky emanates an electric current that warrants repeated hearings. © 2012 Audiophile Audition Read complete review

Gilels was a regular champion of the sorely and unjustly neglected Second Piano Concerto of Tchaikovsky…Gilels is heard to much better advantage, both sonically and interpretively, in his excellent studio recording…this release easily surpasses all previous versions for sound quality. In sum, this issue is for collectors of the pianist, and primarily of interest for the Beethoven. © 2012 Fanfare Read complete review on Fanfare

And in Gilels’ case, it really is largesse. A performance of Beethoven’s G major Concerto may elicit a wary response…But his collaboration with Barbirolli, live from the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, brings a subtly different series of responses. There is a just balance between grand intensity and introspective stasis…The slow movement contrasts a sinewy, implacable orchestra against, at first, a barely audible piano, and the music inexorably relinquishes its dialectical grip, unwinding until it reaches a space seemingly ungoverned by time. In this performance, Gilels seems to be moving toward the outermost limits of introspection; certainly amongst the most introspective that I have heard from him on disc in this work.

Such considerations don’t really apply in the case of Tchaikovsky’s Second Concerto. The orchestra is the LPO, and the conductor an equally great accompanist, though one of a very different stripe, Kirill Kondrashin. The sound here from the BBC’s Maida Vale studios is good and rather less hissy than the Usher Hall concert. Gilels and Kondrashin use Siloti’s edition of the concerto—what would doubtless be called a mash-up today. Notwithstanding this, the command of rhetoric, romance and passion is remarkable and Kondrashin encourages the LPO fully to collaborate, an invocation extended to the two string soloists in the slow movement where the music thins to chamber intimacies and conversational reflection. The finale by contrast is genuinely fiery and exciting.

The disc enshrines two performances of subtlety and power. Whether you need it depends on your priorities with regard to live material and duplication. But I’m very glad, and fortunate, to have heard it. © 2012 MusicWeb International Read complete review