Customer Reviews

Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 56 - Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 8, 14, 23, & 26

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Rubinstein knew all 32 of Beethoven's Sonatas by heart, but in public and on record, limited himself to the most popular half dozen or so. The four Sonatas on this CD--originally recorded at RCA Italiana Studios in the early 1960s--were, with the five Concertos, the core of Rubinstein's Beethoven repertoire.

Rubinstein's approach to the Pathetique is characteristic of his Beethoven playing: Tempos are sensible, avoiding extremes of speed or slowness; phrasing is devoid of artifice; pedalling is sparser than Beethoven's written indications, but many of Beethoven's contemoparies claim Beethoven over-pedalled; repeats are generally taken. Some purists will object to the way Rubinstein plays some of the grace notes and ornaments in the first movement, but there has been no conclusive evidence either way on the "correct" manner to handle them (Beethoven probably didn't care anyway).

This CD contains Rubinstein's only recording of the inescapable Moonlight Sonata. He performed it in public several times during the 1962-1963 season, and then dropped it from his repertoire. The first movement is played simply, even a little dryly, as is the second movement. But Rubinstein lets loose in the Finale, bringing the work to a stunning close. Nobody else could hit a piano that hard and still create such a beautiful sound.

The Appassionata was a favorite of Rubinstein's. He featured it in his earliest concert performances, played it almost to the end of his career, and recorded it three times. This recording is more successful than the previous two (the first was almost comically slapdash). Max Wilcox, the producer of the original recording, has noted that this was one of the few times Rubinstein became hampered in the recording studio, and many takes were required before Rubinstein was satisfied. But one could never guess that from listening to the resulting performance, it is totally organic and betrays no hint of being spliced together.

The Les Adieu Sonata rounds out the album, bringing a joyous conclusion to a wonderful recording.

RCA has remastered the sound, which was pretty good to begin with, with their usual attention to detail.

There are many wonderful recordings of Beethoven's piano sonatas by great virtuoso pianists: Ashkenazy, Brendel, Gilels, Kempff, Perahia, and Pollini, to name but a few. Yet, even more than 40 years after they were recorded, Rubinstein's performance of these four famous sonatas still holds its own against extremely stiff competition in a very crowded field.

Even though the most thrilling, white-hot performance that I have ever heard of the Appassionata is by Pollini, I am not giving this CD anything less than five stars. While there may be individual performances of each of these individual sonatas that are as good as these, or, in the case of Pollini's Appassionata or Gilels' Pathetique, arguably better, I cannot think of any single CD by a single pianist that provides more beautiful performances, taken as a whole, of these four sonatas. As he plays through the allegro and adagio movements of each sonata, Rubinstein brings out vividly both the fiery passion and the poetic grace in these works. He does play some passages with a certain reserve, but I consider it the reserve of a master pianist with more than sixty years of experience, both in music and in life, playing these sonatas with precision as well as passion, not only savoring but serving the music as he plays it, subordinating himself and his ability for pianistic pyrotechnics to its beauty.

Rubinstein's highly polished technique and consummate mastery of the keyboard are stunning; his sense of rhythm, his scintillating runs, trills, and arpeggios, and his joining together of elegance and passion, are a wonder to behold. In addition, his control is an amazing example of power held in reserve: he knows exactly how hard to hit the piano in the louder passages to bring out all of the passion in the music without ever letting the sound degenerate to the level of mere percussive noise. As Hank Drake writes in his review of this CD, "Nobody else could hit a piano that hard and still create such a beautiful sound."

The sound engineering, with 20-bit remastering of the original analog recordings, is excellent.

Not only is this CD a pleasure to listen to, but the essay in the insert is one of the most well-written, interesting, and lengthy (8 pages) that I have encountered in the Rubinstein CD series, with information on Beethoven, these four sonatas, and Rubinstein, including extracts from Rubinstein's "My Young Years." Very highly recommended.

Arthur Rubinstein is immediately associated with Chopin's music, and we all agree on that: he completely changed the way people see Chopin, either as a man and as a composer, and he found a way to get over Cortot's over-romanticism without choosing a "teutonic" approach. But as Rubinstein set a standard for Chopin, a new standard for Beethoven was found by distinguished pianists such as Backhaus and Fischer; Rubinstein didn't probably disagree enough with them to seek a completely different path, and maybe he wasn't as close to Beethoven as he was to Chopin. Nonetheless, he would never play "the German way"... that's why his sonatas sound Rubinstein-like, but they're actually not meant to go down in history.
So here we have four famous works played in an "usual" way, but with a tone quality and a good taste that couldn't be more "unusual": it's Ruby all the way, folks!

The "Pathetique" is a triumph of great sound and proportions, as well as the "Appassionata", but I think they both lack the sparkle of earlier recordings (vol. 10 and 14). The "Moonlight" sounds beautiful in its under-romanticism, and "Les Adieux" is probably the winner of the whole disc, with its lovely and passionate tone and clever use of rubato.

When great pianists come to the the sacred Beethoven sonatas, they diverge into two camps. The first camp tries to serve Beethoven first, the second imposes a 'personal' style with secondary attention to the composer. In the first camp everyone would put Schnabel, Serkin, Annie Fischer, Wilhelm Kempff, Murray Perahia, and perhaps nowadays Andras Schiff and Leif Ove Andsnes. In the second would be Horowitz, Richter, Cortot, Rubinstein, and a panoply of earlier greats in the Lisztian romantic tradition. These were the unabashed stylists, whose fans want to hear a pianist more than they want to hear piano music.

Rubinstein's fans were particularly devoted to him--he was that rare thing, a loable human being who also happened to be a virtuoso--and since he was less agressive than Richter and less flamboyant than Horowitz, Rubinstein's gentle, sophisticated way with Beethoven, which could evoke Paris over Vienna, felt more agreeable. But it's not selfless by any means. Rubinstein is the anti-Serkin, bringing the same dreaminess to the Moonlight that he brings to Chopin, smoothing over the outbursts in the Appassionate so that it will be more civilized (but losing half of Beethoven's revolutionary genius in the bargain), and generally giving his audiences what they want.

On its own terms, this CD is a lovely example of the Rubinstein method. Personally, I side with the first camp, but I can see why many listeners so admire this epitmoe of sophisticated elegance who never slips into vulgarity or blatant showmanship.

The 4 Sonatas represented here are probably among the most familiar of all of Beethoven's work to the general listening public. They are beautifully rendered by Arthur Rubenstein in a recording of very good quality. This is an ideal purchase for someone who is seeking an introduction to Beethoven's work since the music is highly accessable and the price is very affordable. Rubenstein's playing is basically straightforward and sensitive, perfectly suited to the 4 selections presented here.

I love these recordings! I think the interpretations Rubinstein offers are different (which is a good thing) from the "Beethoven specialists," which is very refreshing. This is especially evident in the "Pathetique" Sonata (my personal favorite). I have recordings of Ashkenazy, Pollini, Brendel, and Kempff, but the Rubinstein is my favorite (Interestingly enough, I'd say Ashkenazy is next on that list).

His "Moonlight" and "Les Adieux" performances are among my favorite recordings of those particular sonatas as well. "Appassionata," which he recorded the most, is still good, but better versions of him playing it exist.

This CD is worth the money.

I put all these sonatas performed by Rubinstein along with the same ones performed by Van Cliburn and Rudolf Serkin onto a dsic and have enjoyed listening and comparing. Today I put together a Rubinstein concerto disc and had almost 25 minutes of filler space at the end and added the 23rd sonata. I have listened many times to this performance and have yet to make it through the 3rd movement without a BIG chill going up and down my spine. WOW!

Most of my CD-Rs have one of Beethoven's named sonatas at the end if there is filler space. It is music I cannot get enough of and never grow tired of.

I can't say enough about Rubinstein's interpretation. These are my favorite sonatas and I worship Beethoven. I also have these sonatas done by Brendle, Ashkanazi, Kemph, Buchbinder, Horowitz, and Gould, but Rubinstein does them best. Out of five stars, I would give Rubinstein ten. Although the recording is old, it is well done and does not detract at all from the performance. My only regret is that Rubenstein did not record the rest of the Beethoven sonatas.

Perfect selection of piano pieces played by the magical hands of Arthur Rubinstein. The plastic LP version of this, cut decades ago, strongly contributed to my own desire to play piano. And what joy it brought to be able to play these pieces using Rubinstein as a model!

I do not know classical music in the way that many of the people who have reviewed this work do. I cannot compare Rubinstein's performances with other pianists. I cannot analyze the technical qualities of his playing. I cannot really be a judge of the work at the level that most listeners of classical music would like.
I can however say that the deep pleasure given by this work comes in part of hearing familiar 'classical music' replayed. It comes too out of certain qualities of the playing, its grace, its lightness, its moving depth, its clear rushes of excitement.
One of the greatest of all pianists playing some of the greatest piano music ever written cannot help but inspire and move the listener.