Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 78

On this CD:

1. Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra with Artur Rubinstein
Conducted by Daniel Barenboim

2. Cadenzas (3) to Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra with Artur Rubinstein
Conducted by Daniel Barenboim

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
These concerti were recorded when Rubinstein was 88 years old. It was the third time he had recorded all of Beethoven's piano concerti as a cycle (the other two were in 1956 and 1967), and, indeed, elsewhere in his career, he recorded the last two concerti a time or two more. Rubinstein is not known as a Beethoven interpreter, but it's hard to tell why not. Here, his playing is lucid and big-boned (yes, even at 88), and he gets through the third movement of the third concerto--the acid test--with flying colors. The second movement is handsomely lyrical when called for, as well. His Beethoven playing is always noble--perhaps that's what some objected to (many prefer hell-bent to noble, especially in the late concerti)--but he rarely misses a dramatic point. He holds back nicely at times, bending the rhythms suitably (plenty of this in the middle movement of the fourth). Daniel Barenboim proves to be a fine conductor (he had just begun to conduct), and the sound is far better than on the original LPs, which nobody liked because the orchestra-piano balance was way off. In short, these are splendid readings. --Robert Levine

Tracks:

Mazurka No.1 in f#, Op.6
Mazurka No.2 in c#, Op.6
Mazurka No.3 in E, Op.6
Mazurka No.4 in e flat, Op.6
Mazurka No.1 in B flat, Op.7
Mazurka No.2 in a, Op.7
Mazurka No.3 in f, Op.7
Mazurka No.4 in A flat, Op.7
Mazurka No.5 in C, Op.7
Mazurka No.1 in B flat, Op.17
Mazurka No.2 in e, Op.17
Mazurka No.3 in A flat, Op.17
Mazurka No.4 in a, Op.17
Mazurka No.1 in g, Op.24
Mazurka No.2 in C, Op.24
Mazurka No.3 in A flat, Op.24
Mazurka No.4 in b flat, Op.24
Mazurka No.1 in c, Op.30
Mazurka No.2 in b, Op.30
Mazurka No.3 in D flat, Op.30
Mazurka No.4 in C#, Op.30
Mazurka No.1 in G#, Op.33
Mazurka No.2 in D, Op.33
Mazurka No.3 in C, Op.33
Mazurka No.4 in b, Op.33

Tracks:

Mazurka No.1 in c#, Op.41
Mazurka No.2 in e, Op.41
Mazurka No.3 in B, Op.41
Mazurka No.4 in A flat, Op.41
Mazurka No.1 in G, Op.50
Mazurka No.2 in A flat, Op.50
Mazurka No.3 in C#, Op.50
Mazurka No.1 in B, Op.56
Mazurka No.2 in C, Op.56
Mazurka No.3 in c, Op.56
Mazurka No.1 in a, Op.59
Mazurka No.2 in A flat, Op.59
Mazurka No.3 in f#, Op.59
Mazurka No.1 in B, Op.63
Mazurka No.2 in f, Op.63
Mazurka No.3 in C#, Op.63
Mazurka No.1 in G, Op.67
Mazurka No.2 in g, Op.67
Mazurka No.3 in C, Op.67
Mazurka No.4 in a, Op.67
Mazurka No.1 in C, Op.68
Mazurka No.2 in a, Op.68
Mazurka No.3 in F, Op.68
Mazurka No.4 in f, Op.68
Mazurka 'A'Emile Gaillard' in a
Mazurka 'Notre Temps' in a

Amazon.com

Chopin wrote mazurkas throughout his all-too-brief life, using this Polish dance as the basis for short pieces that encompass a world of harmonic explorations and varied emotions, from the subtly comic to the intensely sad. Rubinstein plays the 51 in the standard canon, skipping the unpublished youthful ones. Of his three recordings of the set, connoisseurs tend to prefer his first, from 1938-1939 (available on RCA, EMI, and Naxos) for their spontaneity. But these 1965-1966 stereo recordings in refreshingly alive transfers can't fail to please most listeners. They're a bit weightier than the early ones, but the added depth and Rubinstein's characterization of each piece yield big dividends. In the great C sharp minor Mazurka, Op. 50, No. 3, for example, he plays the beautiful opening theme with disarming simplicity that invests it with mournful regret, manages the transitions to bolder statements flawlessly, and turns a charming dance into a dramatic tone poem that says in five minutes what some composers need a full symphony to say. That miracle is repeated often in this set, as Rubinstein appears at first to be underplaying a piece until you realize the sophistication of his carefully modulated dynamics, gentle rubato, and varied tone. His was an outward simplicity that hid complex art. Throughout, he plays with a wonderful, singing tone, rhythmic life, and an aristocratic authority few have matched. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews:

piano for the suburbanite.......2005-04-23

nothing artistic here.
plays like a student.
pass it up...

This would be the greatest exce[pt...........2002-01-08

This would be the greatest of all Rubinstein Chopin recordings except...there are the Polonaises (Volumte 28!), and the Nocturnes (Volume 46!). Count this one tied for 3rd, with the Ballades, the Waltzes, the.... Hey, wait -- you might as well get them all.

My only problem with this recording is that the repeat button on my CD player isn't working. I listen to one and say, "That's gotta be the best Rubinstein/Chopin Mazurka there could possibly be," but no sooner than I think that, that another one comes on, EVEN BETTER.

Okay, I have my fav. The great B Minor Opus 33 Number 4. This is mid-period Chopin at his finest, and Rubinstein at his finest, and we are privileged to be alive so that we can rehear it.

Who Better than to Record the Mazurkas?.......2001-12-01

Chopin. Rubinstein. Mazurkas. Perfection. The impeccable Rubinstein rubato shines most when he plays the works which invite overindulgence, like the dance forms, or the easily sentimentalized nocturnes. Especially in these mazurkas where his rhythmic restraint is admirable. These recordings are quirky yet authoritative enough to make me wonder whether only a fellow Pole can play Chopin with such multifariousness (16 letters!) of movement within the staff. I've heard other recordings of the mazurkas, mainly Ashkenazy (boring... where's the life?) and individual performance pieces in compiliations, but none sparkle like the way Rubinstein makes them sparkle. Sublime.

Arthur Rubinstein: Chopin's 51 Mazurkas.......2001-04-07

Fabulous! Polish music at its best!

The unsurpassable Rubinstein.......2001-03-29

While his recordings of other composers is somewhat uneven, Rubinstein is the absolute master of Chopin. Noone else captures the beauty, nuance, depth, poetry, and feel of his music in quite the same way, and the Mazurkas (which by the way sound wonderful in their new remastering) are no exception. Even the very familiar ones sound fresh in Rubinstein's hands, and whether you listen to these a few at a time (as I usually do) or straight through, I highly recommend this recording as well as the other reissues in this series.

Average customer rating:

Rare Dud
One of the best and most listened to albums in my collection
One of the best and most listened to albums in my collection
A Great Recording Worthy of any Library
Superb Brahms Performances from Rubinstein and Szeryng

Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 41
Artur Rubinstein , Brahms , and Henryk Szeryng
Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000031WBS
Release Date: 2000-10-10

Tracks:

Sonata No. 1, Op. 78 In G Major: Vivace ma non troppo
Sonata No. 1, Op. 78 In G Major: Adagio
Sonata No. 1, Op. 78 In G Major: Allegro molto moderato
Sonata No. 2, Op. 100 In A Major: Allegro amabile
Sonata No. 2, Op. 100 In A Major: Andante tranquillo - Vivace - Andante - Vivace di piu - Andante - Vivace
Sonata No. 2, Op. 100 In A Major: Allegro grazioso (quasi Andante)
Sonata No. 3, Op. 108 In D Minor: Allegro
Sonata No. 3, Op. 108 In D Minor: Adagio
Sonata No. 3, Op. 108 In D Minor: Un poco presto e con sentimento
Sonata No. 3, Op. 108 In D Minor: Presto agitato

Customer Reviews:

Rare Dud.......2007-05-22

I bought this cd because of the many wonderful LPs which featured Szeryng or Rubenstein in combinations with other greats of my youth. It is a Dud. Any -wonders of articulation, tone, or phrasing the artists tried to express were squelched by terrible reproduction techniques. Even though it's inexpensive, avoid it. It's a waste of time and money.

An Old Appreciator

One of the best and most listened to albums in my collection.......2004-01-12

As a violinist and pianist, there are few recordings I delight in more than this one. The interplay between Artur Rubinstein and Henryk Szeryng is just gorgeous. If for some reason, you are more of a lay person considering purchase of this, listen to the first track and imagine it being played at a gorgeous spring wedding. If you're looking for a gift that's not from the standard repertoire of overplayed classical selections, this is an awesome CD that will delight that picky classical listener. Otherwise, for musicians, this is simply a sublime set of sonatas played by the best in the business. The recording quality is intimate and excellent. We are lucky to have these sensitive and thoughtful sessions captured and available on CD. I find myself listening to and being inspired by this CD far more than I ever anticipated. This CD is going to the desert isle with me!

One of the best and most listened to albums in my collection.......2004-01-12

As a violinist and pianist, there are few recordings I delight in more than this one. The interplay between Arthur and Henrik is just gorgeous. If for some reason, you are more of a lay person considering purchase of this, listen to the first track and imagine it being played at a gorgeous spring wedding. Otherwise, for musicians, this is simply a sublime set of sonatas played by the best in the business. I feel lucky to have this on CD.

A Great Recording Worthy of any Library.......2003-03-05

Rubinstein was the luckiest man indeed. Joachim did take him on musically when he was small. But we are also lucky in the sense that Rubinstein rediscovered Szeryng. That partly explains why there is such good collaboration between the two in this record.

There is a similiar version by Suk/Katchen. Suk is no less expressive but he is gloomier in tone, whereas Katchen is more robust and perhaps more intellectual than Rubinstein. The collaboration is surprisingly almost as good. Nonetheless, I prefer this one, as with Szeryng we have everything one could expect -- no wonder Perlman sounds a bit sour in his comments on Szeryng. What Szeryng has to offer is pure music: it's appealing, relaxing, it's irresistibe. One may not be always ready to go to Menuhin, not so with Szeryng. He is as charming as Kreisler albeit in a different way.

Rubinstein is equally relaxing but his music comes in a broader brush. One doesn't need to be able to appreciate the art of say, Egon Petri to be able to enjoy him, not at all. But it would help if one could go more often to Horszowski, then one would be able to enjoy him better. It's something quite different from Rudolf Serkin or Horowitz or Michelangeli, or indeed any modern pianist.

There is yet another version by Mutter. But it seems that it is essentially more to the taste of the younger generation, geared for surprises and excitement, wouldn't accept anything but the most excellent recorded sound. But as pointed out by some other reviewer, the recorded sound of this one is most excellent, so are the other two.

Superb Brahms Performances from Rubinstein and Szeryng.......2000-10-21

Arthur Rubinstein received his early training as a musician in a manner totally foreign to today's young students. His early teachers were Joseph Joachim (a friend of Brahms) and Heinrich Barth. He was permitted by his teachers to give occasional performances, required to attend concerts, and played through the chamber repertoire with his fellow students. This is in contrast to the current generation which is consigned to the practice rooms of crowded conservatories (virtuoso factories, actually) and bred to win competitions, often at the expense of true musical developement. As a result, Rubinstein was able to make the crossover between stunning virtuoso performances, and communicative chamber music appearances.

Henryk Szeryng first performed with Rubinstein in the 1950s. Immediately, their musical chemistry evolved into friendship, and it is this atmosphere which suffuses all of their recorded performances. There is a give-and-take in these performances which recalls the great chamber music recordings of Rachmaninoff and Kreisler. One never gets the sense that Rubinstein and Szeryng are trying to "one-up" each other. Everything is in perfect balance. Rubinstein loved Brahms, approached him as a living composer, and the result is performances which continue to inspire decades later.

Tracks:

Toccata In C, BWV564: Prelude
Toccata In C, BWV564: Adagio
Toccata In C, BWV564: Fugue
Impromptu In A Flat, Op.90 No.4
Piano Sonata In G, Op.78, D.894: III. Minuetto
Romance In F#, Op. 28 No. 2
Arabeske In C, Op.18
Traumerie (Kinderszenen, Op.15, No.7)
Widmung ('Dedication')
Capriccio In b, Op.76, No.2
Rhap In g, Op.79, No.2
Wiegenlied, Op.49, No.4
Valse-Caprice In E flat

Customer Reviews:

Vintage Rubinstein.......2001-04-18

Volume 8 of RCA's complete Rubinstein Collection features the pianist in performances recorded on 78RPM discs in London from 1928-1947.

Although Rubinstein recommended in-depth study of Bach for every musician, he seldom performed Bach in public. He invariably relied on the remarkable arrangements made by pianist/composer Ferruccio Busoni. Rubinstein, along with Horowitz and many other virtuosos of the period, considered Busoni's arrangements of Bach's organ works the ideal transference of Bach's musical thought to the modern concert grand piano. Unfortunately, Busoni's arrangements have fallen out of favor with today's more "purist" style of "interpretation," and they are seldom played despite remaining in print. In this 1934 recording, made ten years after Busoni's death, Rubinstein brings all the virtuosity that both Bach (yes, Bach was a virtuoso organist, in a day when virtuosity was not a dirty word) and Busoni would have expected. Rubinstein is notably more secure technically than Horowitz is in his 1965 performance, recorded live in Carnegie Hall. Incidentally, Rubinstein plays the ossia passages in the second movement.

The A-Flat Impromptu of Schubert was a great favorite of Rubinstein's. The tempo in this 1928 recording is faster than one would be accustomed to hearing from a 21st Century pianist. However, judging from other recordings of the period--notably Rachmaninoff's--Rubinstein's tempo was probably considered mainstream at the time, and here is no lack of clarity in the repeated-note passages which are a hallmark of the piece. The third movement, recorded in 1936, from Schubert's pastoral G-major Sonata makes one wish Rubinstein had recorded the entire piece. Schubert's Sonatas were rarely performed in the early 20th Century--even as cultured a musician as Rachmaninoff didn't even know they existed.

Rubinstein was nearly always at home in Schumann, as is the case in these four short pieces. The Arabeske and Romance he recorded several times throughout his long career. The performance of Traumerai heard here makes one wish he had recorded the entire Kinderszenen cycle.

Brahms was closer to Rubinstein's heart than any other composer, and occupies the largest portion of his discography of any composer except Chopin. The Capriccio featured here was recorded at the pianist's first session on March 9, 1928. The sound here is notably compressed and hollow sounding, however, electrical recording was in its infancy in 1928, so this is to be expected. Tempos in this piece and the Rhapsody are exceptionally faster than in later versions by the pianist.

"Rubinstein plays Rubinstein" would have made a great selling album whatever the musical merits, and RCA was forever trying to persuade the pianist to record works by the Russian composer Anton Rubinstein--to whom the pianist was unrelated. The most they could coax out of him were a few short pieces, including the Valse-Caprice--a wonderful bit of fluff.

Tracks:

Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 37 In C Minor: Allegro con brio
Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 37 In C Minor: Largo
Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 37 In C Minor: Rondo: Allegro
Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 58 In G: Allegro moderato
Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 58 In G: Andante con moto
Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 58 In G: Rondo: Vivace

Amazon.com

These concerti were recorded when Rubinstein was 88 years old. It was the third time he had recorded all of Beethoven's piano concerti as a cycle (the other two were in 1956 and 1967), and, indeed, elsewhere in his career, he recorded the last two concerti a time or two more. Rubinstein is not known as a Beethoven interpreter, but it's hard to tell why not. Here, his playing is lucid and big-boned (yes, even at 88), and he gets through the third movement of the third concerto--the acid test--with flying colors. The second movement is handsomely lyrical when called for, as well. His Beethoven playing is always noble--perhaps that's what some objected to (many prefer hell-bent to noble, especially in the late concerti)--but he rarely misses a dramatic point. He holds back nicely at times, bending the rhythms suitably (plenty of this in the middle movement of the fourth). Daniel Barenboim proves to be a fine conductor (he had just begun to conduct), and the sound is far better than on the original LPs, which nobody liked because the orchestra-piano balance was way off. In short, these are splendid readings. --Robert Levine

Customer Reviews:

He's 88?.......2001-10-23

Perhaps it's fitting that Rubinstein's age on this recording would match the number of piano keys! First, the negatives. For anyone familiar with the Rubinstein/Leinsdorf recording of the early 60s, the opening of the 4th Concerto is a great disappointment. It lacks the nobility of statement that marked Rubinstein at his finest. This one is very inward, and almost sounds bent and cramped (rather like he was at the time?) The use of rubato, while always within reason, makes a portion of the recording sound more like Chopin than Beethoven. And, on the whole, this is not very fiery Beethoven, nor, a la Brendel, "thinking man's Beethoven" either.

Having said that, the Third Concerto is extremely convincing. The plaintive soul of the Concerto comes through loud and clear, and Barenboim and Rubinstein are clearly of one mind, throughout. The playing is gorgeous, and still, in Rubinstein's 9th decade, stately and powerful. The great downsweeping runs in the 2nd movement of the Fourth Concerto show that Rubinstein could still PLAY, and the virtuosity is always at the service of the music.

Buy this one as a remembrance of the power of youth that can continue well into old age. (I like the packaging, too -- could essay on relationship between Rubinstein and Barenboim, and a retrospective on the former's career. The cover photo, in autumnal bronze seems to carry the exact same facial expression as the famous Kissin Chopin Concerto recording, made when Kissin was 13. If you could blow them up and frame them, you'd have some gorgeous stuff for the living room!)

Rubinstein's Autumnal Beethoven.......2000-08-12

Arthur Rubinstein was nearly ninety when these concertos were recorded. When this cycle of Beethoven Concertos was originally released in 1976, the set was generally panned by critics. One reason may have been the sound on the original LPs: the piano was virtually in your lap, with the orchestra far in the background and very poorly mixed. The recording gave the impression of a bogged down "arthritic" performance. The audio has been greatly improved for this, the first release of these performances on CD. The balance is natural, and the orchestral sonority is plush.

Rubinstein's performances here can best be described as "stately." He is certainly still capable of creating a fortissimo which can rock the piano on its wheels, without ever making a harsh or unpleasant sound. Some purists may quibble with Rubinstein's use of rubato, approach to ornamentation, and use of Busoni's editions of Beethoven's cadenzas--but these performances are nevertheless a joy from first note to last.