Customer Reviews

Carnegie Hall Highlights

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Here is a rich assortment of Rubinstein gems, culled from the series of 10 sold-out recitals the great Polish pianist gave at Carnegie Hall (to meet the challenge of Sviatoslav Richter's six sold-out recitals in the same venue). The Debussy is superb, the Szymanowski authentic, the Prokofiev prismatic, and the Albeniz inimitable. Great pianism and great musicmaking.

In the Autumn of 1961, Arthur Rubinstein graced New York with an unprecedented demonstration of musical generosity. He performed ten solo piano recitals at Carnegie Hall, never programming the same work twice. What's more, he donated his entire proceeds to several charities, including the Musicians' Emergency Fund, Big Brother, and the NAACP. RCA recorded all of the concerts, and Rubinstein (who was uncomfortable with live recordings) consented to the release of a small portion of the music, which is mostly geared toward 20th Century music. (The recordings were slightly edited to gain Rubinstein's approval.)

Rubinstein was playing Debussy's music when it was hot off the press, and as often as not, being booed for playing such "abstract" modern music. Rubinstein never cared for the "piano without hammers" approach of such Debussy specialists as Gieseking--he wanted more "meat" in his Debussy. However, he doesn't treat the French composer as some sort of 20th Century Chopin. Rubinstein generally uses softer "sound colors" here than he does in Chopin's work. His approach here is analogous to that of a painter substituting watercolors for oil paint.

Karol Szymanowski was a close friend of Rubinstein's, and the Mazurkas heard here were dedicated to the pianist. Rubinstein recorded some of these miniatures during the 78RPM era, and comparison with those recordings shows this later performance to more elegant and urbane than the rustic earlier version.

Rubinstein knew Prokofiev in Paris before the composer returned to Soviet Russia. The pianist performed less of this composer's music than that of his other contemporaries, perhaps because he did not feel at home with Prokofiev's percussive use of the keyboard. These 12 excerpts from the composer's 20 Visions fugitives are, along with the March from The Love for Three Oranges on Volume 70, Rubinstein's entire recorded Prokofiev output. Rubinstein's performance never crosses the line from percussive into ugly.

Rubinstein was an early champion of Villa-Lobos' piano music, and the composer's Rudepoema is said to be a musical portrait of the pianist. One of Rubinstein's favorite works was the Prole do bebe (The Baby's Children), and he often performed excerpts of the work in concert, usually altering the running order of the individual pieces. It's a pity that the pianist never recorded the entire cycle, as his approach to coloration and phrasing suits the work perfectly.

Schumann's Arabesque is the only 19th Century work on this disc. Rubinstein's utterly natural performance suits the music perfectly.

Albeniz' Navarra was one of Rubinstein's favorite encores, and the performance here is a demonstration of how the pianist, who understood that virtuosity meant more than mere technique, could bring down the house and leave the audience begging for more.

The contents of this CD, and Schumann's Symphonic Etudes on Volume 39 of the Complete Rubinstein Collection, are the only documents of these remarkable concerts to be released to the public. As Rubinstein begged his son John not to allow any further releases, and the pianist is said to have destroyed a number of the tapes himself, it is unlikely that we will hear any more documents of this remarkable gift to music lovers everywhere.

Rubinstein had an almost endless repertoire through Stravinsky. He had certain preferences and there were many things he never recorded I wish he had. But he had his reasons.

This disk has many nice things from some live concerts at the height of his powers. He performed the Debussy many many times and the Ondine was one of his favorite encore pieces.

What bothers me most is that this disk seems to be out of print. Whomever is in charge of such things out to get all these historical CDs available again somehow. They are too important to the history of piano playing to be out of print!

I could not get past the guy snorting, sniffing and coughing in my left ear headphone. I finally got so disgusted, I didn't finish listening. I'm giving the CD to my local library. My gorge is rising even as I type this. Yuch.