Gilels - Prelude Op 23 No 5 - Rachmaninoff

[@startuphub4097]

Wow, there was a time when an artsy classical music performance was apt entertainment for soldiers on the front lines.

[@junggai]

I've always been amazed at the tempo in this clip, but then I just realized today that it's also a half-step higher. That probably means the tape has been sped up at some point in transmission.

[@uscjd2004]

If you slow the playback down to 0.75, the pitches are just about right for a slightly leisurely rendition of the prelude.

[@kiwibd]

I love it! i have always heard that Gilels played this prelude during the second world war at the war front and i always hoped to watch it! Thanks a lot for posting this! And great performance, indeed!

[@vsamourkas]

"Well, that shit was fast." -Sviatoslav Richter

[@minister_of_films2635]

Sounds like something he would say

[@peace-now]

This is a great picture of the war pianist playing for fly boys.

[@arguz5387]

Great musician performs great music of great composer for heroes of Great War! Some users say, it is propaganda, it is montage. Yes, but it is important hystorical document of 1943-1945.

[@tteu123]

Brilliant footage, love the plane passing over

[@yopiano1071]

This song still really good till now

[@NowhereMan5691]

Oh man.... Gilels plays for young brave men who are propably listening to music for the last time... terrific :'( fuck wars

[@Kindzadzaa]

PS talking about pilots during the ww2, it's a well known fact, that in order not to become deaf, they used to listen classic music,esp. Mozart in their free time.Music was their Healer.Even existed a fighter squadron(consisted from pilots obsessed by music) called ("Singing Squadron"), cause they formed a Chorus.There's a movie(inspired by this story) in which all main characters have real prototypes. " V boy idut odni stariki" - better watch it in B&W

[@FILIGREE1]

Dear Bret6464: I don't really understand how I am talking 'in riddles'. Most of my comments are light hearted and should be treated as such. I am a passionate, classical music enthusiast and I think it's a wonderful, atmospheric clip. Incidentally I have Russian ancestry and it was my grandfather who was piloting the plane who flew over during Gilels performance.

[@bourbakis]

Very inspiring!

[@MrKaplan22]

And people complain about cell phones!

[@goldenox2370]

I wonder if he picked the faster tempo in order to get quickly the hell out of there.

[@OwlyEagles]

He probably did lol but I think he picked it cuz he's young and in his prime. People refuse to realize Rachmaninoff wasn't even in his 30's when he finished this piece. The nature of this piece is very young spirited and adventurous virtuosity. Rachmaninoff was almost 50 when he recorded it for Sony and did a Ampico. By then Rachmaninoff was tired of his 2 famous preludes and trying to find rest in America after leaving Russia and losing his estate therein. Rachmaninoff considered Vladimir Horowitz back in the late 1920's when Horowitz played a lot of his pieces with great daring speeds and virtuosity in a quote " swallowed it whole ... he had the courage, the intensity, the daring" with his concerto no 3. It's not whether or not it should be played slow or fast. It should be played great!

[@goldenox2370]

OwlyEagles Thank you for the great insight, and i completely agree with your input! Btw i was suprised to discover that he has different versions were the tempo is chosen radically different (slower of course)

[@matthewfarrugia5239]

OwlyEagles Great information! By any chance do you have any sources about such information so I can continue reading about this?

[@oliverpaukson8849]

Matthew Farrugia Check out Rachmaninov(/ff)'s biography books, plenty of them at amazon:)

[@СириусСВ]

БРАВО!

[@G33kz0r]

I would have to disagree. The Red Army had no such ambition like that of Hitler and Goebbels. Such a piece is very well suited to the situation, a dramatic defense of the motherland; I cannot think of anything nobler than defense of one's kin.

[@adrianalachkovicova778]

Takáto hudba je mostom medzi nebom a zemou, Takáto hudba robí ľudí lepšími, silnejšími, dokáže v nich vyburcovať všetky skryté sily ducha i tela. Aj toto video je toho dôkazom. Niekedy je dnešná avantgardná, moderná hudba pravým opakom. Škoda, že medzi mladými ľuďmi sa nepropaguje hudba plná harmónie, jasu, svetla. Dnes sa za umenie často považuje monotónne opakovanie pár tónov, disharmónia, škriekanie, neartikulovaný rev, text plný vujgarizmov, vyvolávajúce v mladom človeku chaos, negatívne emócie,...

[@Kindzadzaa]

This situation was very natural & Lots of famous musicians, singers, dramatic actors, supported soldiers by giving concerts. Btw Rachmaninoff, himself gave concerts & fee for this concerts send to USSR to support Red Army & cicitzens , even anonymously. and saved family from starvation. Not mentioning, that he suffered tremendously being torn from his roots, homeland. Read Books & study History without political & ideologiacl prejudice. Use your mind ;)

[@TimmyIsNice]

I think this is great.

[@davidgray2]

@MelosAntropon Well listen to this again, then play a G natural on your piano...the recording is a semitone sharp, indicating that it has been sped up some what. When he actually played it, it would not have been nearly as fast as it is in this video. But what a great sound he makes!

[@thejesusfreak919]

I liked Gilel's version more than Richter's.

[@ADGO]

I saw another film of this which had Chopin's revolutionary etude in place of the 23/5 prelude. I preferred it :)

[@leoleo12321]

wow great

[@Stunt2one]

I always wonder what is he playing for real in the video...

[@riggedgame1189]

It looks like he’s playing the same piece it’s just out of sync. And he audio seems sped up compared to the footage.

[@FILIGREE1]

I think he was distracted by the military aircraft flying 50 feet above his head at 200mph.

[@vsamourkas]

FILIGREE1 Zero flying fucks given.

[@gbosey]

Do you suppose they would still send a concert pianist to play Rachmaninoff to entertain the troops in Iraq?

[@pearsewl]

SHIT that's fast!!!! :O

[@mimimi230]

''I wonder if he picked the faster tempo in order to get quickly the hell out of there.'' i wonder too!

[@thenameisgsarci]

how old was he during that time? and when was that?

[@peace-now]

About 27.Apparently it was filmed in 1944 and was born in October 1916.

[@BrianPaick]

In addition, Hitler, in all his horrible glory, did have a soft spot for music. He came up with the yearly concert of classical music in Vienna. In addition, Wilhelm Backhaus, one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, stated that "Nobody loves German art and especially German music as glowingly as Adolf Hitler", and stuck to his statement even after WW2 ended. So maybe the two don't go together, but remember: even dictators have a garden of roses deep in their heart.

[@6022JP]

ギレリスの音楽がこのようなところでこんな風に利用されるのは悲しく、悲憤に堪えない。 I hate war but I love Gilels.

[@Kindzadzaa]

Firstly - IT’s a well known fact. Try to find some memoirs. 2- You know,There’s a great difference between Homeland (with It‘s People, Culture, Civilization, History which lasted for centuries) & particular regime.The regime established after Revolution was a great deal hostile to Russian Civilization in it’s core at the beginning.There were severe repressions against not only Aristocracy, Army, Church, but also against scientists (philosophers, Historians), Cossacks, ordinary people,etc.

[@FILIGREE1]

If only Britney played the piano like Gilels

[@geertdehoux]

@Stunt2one Yeah, I've always said he wasn't playing this Rachmaninov Prelude on this video.

[@G33kz0r]

Non sequitur, defense had nothing to do with occupying East Germany and certainly nothing to do with whatever you may say, which came long after WWII.

[@cccpredarmy]

why should gilels entertain troops from other nation in a war that make no sence? in ww2 he played for troops who fought for their own country,to save it. it was not an occupation war like in iraq.

[@FILIGREE1]

Gilels died in 1985 so he won't be entertaining troops anywhere. But actually, I think 'gboseys' point was that in this day and age it is unlilely that American troops would want to be entertained by a concert pianist (wherever they were). They would prefer 'Beyonce' or 'Britney'.

[@fisarmonicista]

@Atlantis2184 I hope you said that because my english grammar sucks

[@FILIGREE1]

Maybe only after they had learned to spell it.

[@G33kz0r]

America would sooner pull from Iraq than Britney would learn piano.

[@Kindzadzaa]

Ever-g which was connected with the Preceding Epoch(& somehow threatened the new regime) was under attack & discredited (including History, Famous historical figures, even Literature & Language). Even Harmless poetry by Pushkin was excluded from school study for some decades. But at the same time there lived lots of people who remained Russian in their spirit, tried to preserve traditions & memory in their families, even remained Christians, etc.

[@nicklewisatx]

ROFLMAO - omg are you saying a Soviet propaganda video has errors/misrepresentations?

[@MelosAntropon]

Troops that have been away from home long enough, let alone in combat, loved ANY live entertainment, even if it was a guy playing kazoo with his nose. That said, while Gilels was a stupendously talented pianist, the tempo here is "I-gotta-get-to-the-bathroom!" crazy. I have heard Rachmaninov's early recording of this - it's anything but slow, but it is not near as frenetic as this. "Alla Marcia" does not mean "Quasi Presto".

[@BjornHegstad]

I doubt that he sent money to support the Red Army, seeing that he in 1931, along with some other Russian-American citizens, wrote an article in the New York times condemning the Soviet regime to hell and back, which consequently made the study of Rachmaninoff's music a crime during the remainder of Stalin's reign.

[@Eloybb1]

Rusia entendia que la musica podia subir la moral

[@furiousfox3000]

Haha

[@JonPlougJrgensen]

Slava Ukraini!

[@AfroPoli]

What a terrible video. Music and war machines. Worth of Hitler and Goebbels. That's abuse of music of the worst kind. The video and the sound are a collage, only in the last two seconds you actually see Gilels play what we hear.