http://rachmaninoff.co.uk/reviews/review.php?id=34
He can, on the one hand, nail a piece so emphatically that you feel you are in the presence of a God. The C major Moment Musical is an outstanding example: what strength there is in those steel-like arms, what fabulous articulation, what extraordinary reflexes, what energy!
you’re being hit by a tidal wave of nervous energy which carries a certain, peculiar gravitas: it sounds very human, even though not many humans can play like this.
The finale goes a good deal better, and gets better still at the very end when Gavrilov sends the music into orbit.
His playing in the following pizzicato variation is simply stunning, and from then on he opens his shoulders and hits every variation for six. Extraordinary. Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra deserve special praise, not only for their sensitive accompaniment, but also for just being able to keep up with the soloist in the closing stages.
