Emil Gilels
THE UNRELEASED RECITALS AT THE CONCERTGEBOUW

“In June 2017, when I have to perform in Moscow, I meet Kirill Gilels, grandson of the famous pianist Emil Gilels. He has listened to what our Phoenix Mastering restoration process can accomplish and gives us a list of the years and locations of his grandfather's unpublished recordings. In Berlin, Moscow, St. Petersburg, we discover a heritage that amazes us with the quality and consistency of Emil Gilels' piano playing. We are undoubtedly facing one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. It is finally in Amsterdam, thanks to the determination of Piet Tullenaar, that we manage to extract five recitals that the pianist gave between 1975 and 1980 at the Concertgebouw and which everyone had forgotten existed. As we audition the tapes one by one in the studio allocated to us, neither Piet Tullenaar, nor Michel Navarra, nor myself exchange a word. What a beauty!” F. D'Oria-Nicolas