Pianist Gilels

The brilliant pianist was born in Odessa.
He began studying music at the age of 5. He is commonly regarded as a pupil of Neuhaus, but this is not entirely accurate.
He studied with Neuhaus only in postgraduate.
And before that, with Bertha Mikhailovna Reingbald in Odessa.

It is said that Neuhaus gave him everything that an almost mature pianist lacked. And his career skyrocketed. Unlike Richter, Gilels took an active part in international competitions.

He won 2nd place at a competition in Vienna (1st place - J. Flier). And then 1st place at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels ( J. Flier 3rd :)).

The Queen Elisabeth competition is still held today and is one of the five strongest competitions in the world. But this is a separate topic.

I think that Neuhaus's connections played not the least role in obtaining these laureate titles. But this in no way minimizes the musical talents of Gilels. Certainly, he received these prizes absolutely deservedly.

Piano technique of Emil Gilels

When I was still studying at a music school in Feodosia, my teacher, Galina Fyodorovna Veselova, told me that there was a great pianist, Emil Gilels. Who played scales for two hours a day!

Gilels always had a great technique. I don't know how much of that has to do with scales. The other great pianist, Sviatoslav Richter, never played scales. But his technique was also phenomenal.

But let's not go into the maze and compare these two pianists, who both made it into our top list despite their radically different attitudes to scales.

Gilels, like Horowitz, was characterized by his impeccable training, his sound, his “golden” sound! What can we say, Gilels spent his entire life at the piano, perfecting his skills.

In principle, this can be said of any pianist in our top list, but it was Gilels who made no secret of it. Richter told everyone that he practiced 3 hours a day, although his wife said that he practiced 24 hours a day, especially when he was young.

Horowitz took long breaks between concerts, Scriabin and Rachmaninoff were great composers, and one always gives little thought to how many hours a day they practiced.

For me personally, Gilels' labor at the piano is particularly visible in his life.

I vaguely remember someone saying that Gilels had problems with his hands and that he had them treated. But this may be unreliable information. By the way, Rachmaninoff also had his hands treated.

Scriabin overplayed his right hand when he wanted to learn Balakerev's Islamey quickly. And this is already 3! pianists out of 10, so I will definitely devote a separate topic to pianist's health and healthy pianist's hands in particular. I already have a video on this topic in my course “The Pianist's Encyclopedia”,

According to the information that has come down to us, G. Neuhaus treated his pupil Richter better. Which is not surprising, since Richter had studied with Neuhaus since conservatory school.

Although, in one of his letters to Gilels, Neuhaus called him his favorite pupil. But did he know that these letters would be read by everyone?

Gilels, as Richter says in Enigma, was not always enthusiastic about Neuhaus. Jealous of him, in turn, of Richter. But let's not forget that when Neuhaus was arrested and put “On the Lubyanka”, it was Gilels who interceded for the pedagogue before Stalin.

I suggest that we don't get into the maze of the relationship between these amazing musicians.

We have sumptuous recordings of Richter, Hillels and Neuhaus. We can enjoy their impeccable sound. And I don't think it's necessary to compare these people and understand their relationship. It was their time.

Volodymyr Slakva, online piano teacher
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