Customer Reviews

Rubinstein Collection

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Arthur Rubinstein was a aquaintance of Sergei Rachmaninoff's, revered the elder musician's piano performances, and admired--with some reservations--his compositions. Surprisingly, he recorded a very limited repertoire of the Russian composer's works--a total of three compositions, all represented here.

The Concerto and Paganini Rhapsody were recorded in 1956. The recorded sound was astonishing for its day, and remains pretty impressive now. The performances recorded here remain of the first rank. Rubinstein, like Rachmaninoff, had very large hands--stretches and other technical hurdles which other pianists found uncomfortable were child's play for Rubinstein.

Rubinstein achieves an excellent balance between structure--which is usually neglected in these works--and the details of phrasing, rubato (always natural sounding), and dynamics. Reiner, with the Chicago Symphony, do an excellent job with the orchestral contribution. The two artists reportedly had a rocky personal relationship (Reiner had some tart things to say about Rubintein's technique during the making of this recording, the result being that Rubinstein refused to work with him in the future), but they achieved fine results here.

These recordings rank along side Rachmaninoff's own in these pieces, and in the Rhapsody almost reach the level of the Kapell/Reiner recording--still the my favorite version.

Rubinstein's idiomatic reading of the infamous C-sharp minor Prelude was recorded several years earlier, and is in mono. The only regret here is that Rubinstein never saw fit to record more of Rachmaninoff's music.

The Rubinstein/Reiner recording of the Rachmaninoff Second has always been one of my favorites-I have it in two different LP issues, and also on an early CD release-so I am probably prejudiced by so many repeated hearings. Compared to other recordings, such as Cliburn/Reiner, this one does indeed flow a little faster, but to describe it as "alarmingly fast," as one of your reviewers did, seems inappropriate. It is worth noting, in fact, that Rubinstein's recording is actually SLOWER than Rachmaninoff's own recording reissued on Naxos. It is typically Rubinstein (at least to my experience), in that Rubinstein (and Reiner) do not distort the overall structure of the work by swooning over the music. Rubinstein is subtle; his recordings grow on you with repeated listening. For example, on first hearing his stereo recording of the Chopin nocturnes, I was disappointed at what I thought was his failure to emphasize certain passages; as I became more familiar with the recordings, however, I realized that he was in fact very much aware of those passages, but he never indulged them to the point that they destroyed the structure as a whole. Comparing his recordings of the Second with Rachmaninoff's, I find that not only is he a little bit slower than Rachmaninoff, but he also lets the music relax where it needs to, even more so than Rachmaninoff. Coupled with my favorite recording of the Paganini variations, I highly recommend this issue.

The Concerto and Prelude on this recording are both candidates for a list of art works that the average person on the street will recognize instantly even if a majority of such persons have no idea of the title or the composer of the piece! Even if you don't particularly go in much for the ultra-romantic affect of these pieces you simply must have at least copy of them around the house as a matter of principle, even if you find them evolving into self-parody or some kind of guilty pleasure over time.

You can find amusing examples of how these pieces have been popularly exploited in the movies of the 40s and 50s; the Concerto plays a prominent role in the comedy "Seven Year Itch," and the prelude is performed by Harpo Marx in "A Day At The Races." But I digress.

These particular recordings are both legendary and sonically well preserved for their age. If you're looking to purchase a first recording of these great warhorses this is a nice choice at a bargain of a price.

Take with a large grain of salt the mixed review of the person above who describes them as "uneven and out of tune." Personally I don't even agree with his observation of the first movement of the Concerto being too fast.

Artur Rubinstein was one of the most extraordinary colorists of the pianoÑ owner of that prodigious ability to remark, depict and describe the inner tensions without losing the formal structure, elegance and lyricsm of the work he played, he hovers his Rachmaninov's performances of a very unusual noblesse and sense of grandeur (as Walter Gieseking or William Kapell, for instance).

This Rachmaninov's second. although it lacks of required fierceness in some passages, it's elegant, sensitive and romantically scented.

The Variations on Paganini's theme to my mind are less impressive respect to the other not so well known version recorded with Victor de Sabata, which is much more incisive, mercurial and imaginative.

A worthy to collect album!

Musicians today need to be reminded of just how wonderful things were forty years ago and further back. The artistry on this recording is so detailed and fine-tuned. Mr. Rubinstein's phrasing is impeccable. Listen to the nuance at the end of each phrase -- his shaping is exquisite. He was that rare phenomenon: a gift to all of us -- he could express himself verbally and instrumentally and we are richer because of it. Art is alive on this recording. The technical acrobats of today need to open their ears and begin to listen to what music is. I do not devalue all the artists today. There are some who deserve our attention. But let us not forget what we had.

Music is not self-absorption (as so many performers seem to think it is), but communication on a deeper level. We immediately enter the world of feelings. Mr Rubinstein has left us a legacy and I am grateful to have had the experience of hearing him live some 34 years ago. Wish it were now so that I could appreciate him even more.

Reiner is a powerhouse and commanding. I'm crazy about his other recordings as well.

The recording itself was well-done with the finest technology of the day. The fidelity rings true. It's very clean. I'm sure the combined effort got raves back then and, to me, it still does.

What expression! They just don't make them like this anymore. Thanks so much for making this collection available on a CD.

After listening and enjoying Sergei Rachmaninoff's 18th variation by various people, I began looking for a performance that to me was above the rest. And that's when I came upon Arthur Rubinstein. In this CD you two rare finds, a great composer in Sergei Rachmaninoff and a genius performer in Arthur Rubinstein. Once in a while I listen to a CD without skipping some tracks and this is one of the them I don't skip.

Rubenstein is of course good. However, I liked the Richter recording under Gramaphone. Richter is slower in his playing it, but to me, it has more depth. His Tchaikovsky recording is also good, but at time for me, it seems to plod along. My favorite piano concerto is the Rachmaninoff 2nd. And of all the different recording pianists, (Van Cliburn, Glenn Gould, Rubenstein, etc), I like the Richter one the best--listen to it all the time.

This set is not without merit. And its importance to collectors is inherent, as the legendary Rubinstein recorded so few of Rach's works. However, one wonders if he might have benefitted from a little more experience with the imposing concerto.

For starters, Reiner and he have selected an alarmingly fast tempo for the first movement. So fast, indeed, that many of the climactic moments are lost entirely. While technically superb and indisputably impressive, all the emotional impact of this great concerto is washed away in a sea of virtuosic blandness. I've never heard anyone else take it at that extreme tempo -- but even if they do, I imagine they at least sound like they're summoning up some kind of feeling. With Rubinstein, all I get is the sense that he had someplace else to get to afterwards and he didn't want to be late.

Without a strong first movement, the rest of the concerto falls just as flat... Though not nearly as flat as the piano is for the prelude!

I recognize that the recording is, shall we say, antique. And I understand that mono pickups always distort the sound and compromise the integrity of the performance (brass instruments sound particularly disastrous without a second mic), but the piano used for the "Bells of Moscow" here is *painful* From the third bar of the piece, the bitterness of pitch is so distracting, I couldn't even finish it. And they've made tremendous strides at correcting pitch flaws in old recordings recently, too.. Did they try on this one? Or was it even worse before? (For evidence of the marvels of modern remastering, I recommend listening to that infamous Beethoven's 9th from 1943, with Furtwangler conducting, but I digress.)

The Rhapsody is, by far, the highlight of the disc. It's the only one of the three selections that even begins to show the masterful artistry of the great Artur Rubinstein.

But, it's almost better to skip this one entirely and get others in the collection.. Or, if you're after a great Rach 2, go with Richter's unparallelled reading. (Karajan conducting) It's available on several albums and it's breathtaking where this is barely breathing.