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Gilels Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2
Posted by Steve Luciani on December 7, 2025, 6:36 pm Edited by board administrator December 7, 2025, 6:42 pm
I really enjoyed Rob Maynard's recent review of the 1962 performance. In it, he compared the timings to Gilels' 1972 recording of the same concerto with Svetlanov and the USSR.
I just want to mention that Gilels made a wonderful (to my ears) 1972 studio recording with Maazel and the Philharmonia, just 3 months before the live Svetlanov. That performance was just a minute slower overall than the Kondrashin, vs. four minutes slower for the Svetlanov.
Also, unless it was a different recording, the date of the live recording with Kondrashin was December 23, 1959, not 1962, which may have been the original Melodiya release date.
There is also another recording with Kondrashin and the LPO, recorded in February, 1959, available on Presto Music, with overall timing comparable to the Maazel performance.
