[.ca] Lyric Pieces

From Amazon.com:
Emil Gilels' personal selection of favorite lyric pieces is one of his most praised and best recordings. The pianist obviously selected the pieces with which he felt the strongest identification, and he plays them lovingly, with sprightly rhythms and a rich, singing tone. Gilels was the one who identified himself as second to Sviatoslav Richter--"If you think I'm something, wait until you hear Richter," he supposedly said. But this collection is just as beautiful in its way as Richter's lyric collections. Along with some of his Chopin playing, this Grieg set reminds us that Gilels was a major Romantic pianist. --Leslie Gerber

Chronique amazon.fr:
En composant ces Pièces lyriques, Edvard Grieg écrivait de véritables merveilles d'inspiration. Le grand pianiste russe Emil Gilels signe la version de référence de ces vingt-quatre pièces populaires. Le piano de Gilels sonne profondément pour faire ressortir toute la magie de ces partitions, décrivant un climat scandinave lyrique et épuré. La beauté de ces pièces se situe entre dépouillement et déclamation. --Pierre Graveleau

for everyone who enjoys good, introspective music:
I have to echo the review by "DS" of this wondeful recording, made in June 1974 (but it sounds like it could be yesterday, or 100 years ago, that's the beauty of this music and recording). I'm no expert on classical music: i'm a Jazz and New Age and Electronic music fan. Though i do have over 100 Classical CD's I buy them somewhat haphazardly. I was a member of one of those record clubs and they run clearance specials, which I use to test recordings I know nothing about, but think I might like. When I do this i'm always hoping to discover some unknown gem that might open up a whole new world to me, or be one of those recordings that just speaks to me, that I know i'll listen to for the rest of my life. Well, they usually don't pan out, but that's ok. However, I hit paydirt with this recording, exactly what I hope happens when i do this "blind buying". This is one of those CD's I just put on and feel that I could be in any time, 100 years ago, 20 years ago in my own life, ect. It's just wonderful. It has a timeless quality to it, and unlike most classical music, and most solo piano music, it's not too "busy" and over-involved in technique so that it alienates the listener and doesn't allow oneself to project yourself into the music. If you let it, this recording will remind you of your own past-it's the perfect music for slipping away into ones own mind with. I have experienced this in allot of "New Age" electronic music, but all too rarely in classical music. This isn't to say exactly that this is minimal music, but it just does the trick for me that I only previously experienced in the classical world in some of Debussy's music and some solo classical guitar works. I haven't yet tried to purchase other pianists versions of this music, perhaps because i don't know if this can be improved upon. Even with the 1974 recording date the engineers were quite good and I don't think that a slightly better sounding, more modern recording would make up for the differences in the playing technique that another pianist would bring to these pieces. Thankfully the original recording is just fine, so thanks to the German sound engineers for that. I have, since discovering this several years ago, purchased additional copies and have given them as presents to friends ranging in ages from 60+ to late 20's and actually have 2 copies for myself (the newer version has a different cover and may be remastered, but I haven't done a side by side comparrison). I must admit to being a little partial to the original cover which featured a drawing that was probably from the original vinyl issue of the album and perhaps better enveloped the mood of the music inside the package. However, I can recommend these to just about anyone who can listen to music outside of popular song. It's not at all "difficult" and you may just discover (like me) one of those rare life-enhancing recordings that not only speaks to you, but one that you want to keep with you for the remainder of your time here on this planet. Certainly worth the asking price!

Thoughtful performances, muddy sound:
Gilels selection of some of the best of Grieg's Lyric pieces are very thoughtful and profound readings. Each piece transports you to some delightful scene, and you really feel yourself there with these renditions. Too bad Gilels never went on to record a more complete collection. There is no *definitive* complete collection of all of the Grieg Lyric Pieces on CD. The only complete sets I am aware of are the Daniel Adni set from EMI and the Eva Knardahl recordings that are part the complete Grieg piano works on BIS. Neither of those sets give anywhere near the pleasure that one gets from Gilels' magical readings. If only BMG would get around to issuing the Liv Glaser set on CD. Then, at least we would have something decent for a complete collection, even if she is still quite distant from the superlative quality of Gilels.

I have been buying this CDs at least 10 times:
whenever I need to buy a small present, I bought this CD and gave it as a present. thanks to my binge, I own two of this CDs. when I was dating my wife, I gave it as a present and now I own the two CDs. I think this album goes beyond taste and genre. Any music lover will love this CD.

BONBONS FILLED WITH SNOW:
Grieg's music does not remind me of Norway as I have never been there. His comparatively high profile is mainly due, it seems to me, from his status as a national icon - he may well be the only Norwegian composer I have ever heard of -- and while he does not seem to me to be even remotely of the stature of Nielsen far less Sibelius, he benefits in the way they do from the same factor. In musical terms the parallel that strikes me for Grieg is McDowell whose star is outshone in his own musical firmament. This recital has very much the feel of A Great Man Plays Grieg, and I more than half sense that I have awarded it 5 stars because I would not dare not to. The liner-note writer expresses due wonder that so exalted a virtuoso should have put so much work and care into pieces that can't have put much strain on his technique. My own sense of the matter is that what would seem order-of-magnitude differences in difficulty to an amateur like, say, myself were probably not even apparent to Gilels at all, and that the matters that exercised him, matters of interpretation and expression, were as serious here as in music of more obvious 'difficulty'. It would take a professional to handle the Scherzo op54/5 as Gilels does, but technicians of the highest order seem to be ten a penny these days. What Gilels himself appears to have been drawn to, when he belatedly became aware of the pieces, was a special sense of intimacy in them, so that is what I looked for in his readings, and that is what I found. His tone in the first of the 20 pieces here, the Arietta, is conspicuously beautiful and affectionate, and here as throughout the disc the recording is sensitive and responsive. One senses that he and the works are new to each other, and that in the very best sense. The feel is thoughtful and involved rather than spontaneous, and that seems right to me too. I don't in general find Grieg spontaneous in the sense that the word would apply to Schubert or Weber or Mendelssohn or Schumann. The thought flitted in and out of my mind now and again that I would like to hear these pieces done by Cziffra whose peculiarly innocent effortlessness would surely have shed an entirely different and more unpredictable light on them, but I have no idea whether he recorded them, or played them, or even knew them. The thought was never there for long - Gilels kept me fully involved in his own inward interpretations of this inward music. The 20 pieces were selected by Gilels himself, and are given in strict opus-number sequence. If you listen attentively you will hear a process of change in the composer's idiom, notably in the slower numbers. If Im Balladenton op 65/5 is the same 'Ballade' as was apparently admired by Brahms I think I can appreciate why, and the liner-note author rightly draws attention to the harmonic advance in the really affecting Vorueber op 71/6. The playing-time of the disc falls well short of an hour, but enough of a good thing is enough. This is a notable if slightly out-of -the-way memorial to a great player. I'm very glad I acquired it, and I imagine many will be.

A top 10 piano recording of all time.:
Edvard Grieg's lyric pieces easily ranks in my top 5 or 10 collections of piano works. Moreover, I've listened to this particular recording by Gilels at least 50-100 times and seem to always find something new in each listening. In some sense this recording is a hidden treasure, in that whenever a piano composition finds its way into the mainstream, via movies, commercials, etc., one will often hear Bach, Beethoven, or Chopin (especially Chopin!), but rarely anything from this wonderful collection of pieces. All the better, since one does not need to lose the extra mental baggage that comes with the often unfortunate commercialized associations. For me what makes this recording very special is the sensitivity and patience Gilels brings to each note of each piece. He has the rare ability to play soft, yet maintain the lyrical quality of each piece. It should be noted that Leif Ove Andsnes has recently recorded for Angel Classics (57296) a collection of Grieg's lyric pieces which overlaps with this recording by about 10 pieces. This recording is also highly recommended, in that their styles are different enough to make them both independently interesting to listen to.

• Lyric Pieces: Arietta, Op 12, No. 1
• Lyric Pieces: Berceuse `Cradle Song', Op. 38, No. 1
• Lyric Pieces: Schmetterling `Butterfly', Op. 43, No. 1
• Lyric Pieces: Einsamer Wanderer `Solitary Wanderer', Op. 43, No. 2
• Lyric Pieces: Albumblatt `Album-leaf', Op. 47, No. 2
• Lyric Pieces: Melodie `Melody', Op. 47, No. 3
• Lyric Pieces: Norwegischer Tanz: Halling `Norwegian Danve', Op. 47, No. 4
• Lyric Pieces: Notturno `Nocturn', Op. 54, No. 4
• Lyric Pieces: Scherzo, Op 54, No. 5
• Lyric Pieces: Heimweh `Homesickness', Op 57, No. 6
• Lyric Pieces: Bachlein `Brooklet', Op. 62, No. 4
• Lyric Pieces: Heimwarts `Homeward', Op. 62, No. 6
• Lyric Pieces: Im Balladenton `Ballad', Op. 65, No. 5
• Lyric Pieces: Grossmutters Menuett `Grandmother's Minuet', Op. 68, No. 2
• Lyric Pieces: Zu Deinen Fussen `At Your Feet', Op. 68, No. 3
• Lyric Pieces: An der Wiege `At the Cradle', Op. 68, No. 5
• Lyric Pieces: Es war einmal `Once upon a Time', Op. 71, No. 1
• Lyric Pieces: Kobold `Puck', Op. 71, No. 3
• Lyric Pieces: Voruber `Gone', Op. 71, No. 6
• Lyric Pieces: Nachklange `Remberences', Op. 71, No. 7