Search - Ferruccio Busoni, Cesar Franck, Franz Liszt :: Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 68

One of my Desert Island Rubinstein CDs

Hank Drake | Cleveland, OH United States | 10/26/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The program in Volume 68 of RCA's Complete Arthur Rubinstein Collection is uncommonly well balanced to demonstrate that the pianist's musical sympathies went far beyond Chopin and Brahms.



Rubinstein considered Ferruccio Busoni's arrangements of J. S. Bach's music to be the ideal transference of Bach's musical thought to the modern piano. This, Rubinstein's only recording of the Chaconne, was recorded in 1970. The pianist moves through the shifting moods of Bach's variations smoothly, characterizing the contrasting episodes while maintaining the basic pulse. Anyone who thinks Rubinstein did not possess a rock-solid piano technique need only listen to this performance as proof of the pianist's abilities. He can match his younger colleagues finger for finger, and tonally he can't be beaten. Unlike, say, Kissin, Rubinstein is able to push the piano to its dynamic limits, without ever creating a harsh sound.



If I had to choose one solo recording to demonstrate Rubinstein's gifts as a pianist and interpreter, it would be this version of Franck's Chorale, Prelude & Fugue, also recorded in 1970. Basically, the key to bringing this difficult piece to life lies in the careful balancing of totality and detail. Despite his posthumous reputation as a "Romantic" pianist, Rubinstein was essentially concerned with the big-picture, musically speaking. By avoiding the temptation to point out certain details in Franck's piano writing, the framework of the piece emerges more clearly. Rubinstein, at 83, plays with all the brilliance heard on earlier versions, and with even greater structural control.



I don't think Rubinstein loved Liszt the way he loved Chopin or Brahms. Although he performed Liszt's mammoth Sonata virtually from the beginning of his career, he did not record it until 1965, when he was 78. There are three basic approaches to this work: Demonic, Narrative, or Structural. Rubinstein unhesitatingly chooses the latter course, with just a dash of the previous two. This performance does not have the frisson or diabolical qualities of Horowitz' legendary 1932 recording. Nor does it have the ineffectual mooning of Watts' unfortunate 1985 version. Nor, thankfully, is it study in sterile perfection, as is Pollini's recording. Rubinstein plays the Sonata as a SONATA, not as a balancing act between orgies of speed and sentimental interludes. (It must be admitted, however, that there are a few bluffed passages and even a misreading of the text on Rubinstein's part.) Also included on the CD is Liszt's Valse-oubliee, along with the Sonata Rubinstein's only stereo recording of Liszt's solo music.



Rubinstein was playing Debussy's music when it was hot off the press, and La plus que lent was a great favorite is his. The Villa-Lobos O Polichinelo was long associated with the pianist, and was the last piece he ever played in public. It makes an effective encore here.



RCA's remastering preserved Rubinstein's unique tonal qualities, and has greater dynamic impact than previous issues."

A supremely controlled and elegant Liszt Sonata - maybe a to

Discophage | France | 08/11/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I haven't bought this particular reissue, as I already have the original 1987 CD release of most of this material (Rubinstein plays Liszt Sonata in Bm, Franck Prelude Chorale & Fugue, Bach-Busoni Chacone). The same was also reissued in 1995 as (Artur Rubinstein - Franck: Prelude, Chorale & Fugue; Bach-Busoni: Chaconne; Liszt: Sonata in B minor). The new material on this vol. 68 of Bmg's complete Rubinstein collection consists of the small Villa Lobos and Debussy pieces and the Liszt Valse Oubliée. Obviously I cannot comment on the quality of the remastering, but the sonics of the first CD release were already very good, and I doubt that the improvement is worth the cut-throat prices asked by some internet vultures now that even this newer reissue is out of circulation.



Interpretively, although I had never thought of it in the illuminating terms Hank Drake couches it ("Demonic, Narrative or Structural"), I am much in agreement I believe with his comment on Rubinstein's approach to the Liszt Sonata. This is what I wrote in my review of the original CD release : "there is much to admire in Rubinstein's reading. At the beginning, you might find him a bit underpowered, especially if, as myself, you hear this recording immediately after Gilels' live 1961 recording (apparently it cannot be found anymore in its first Chant du Monde CD release, but is now available as Chopin: Sonatas for piano No2; Liszt: Sonata for piano in Bm) or Horowitz' 1977 remake (Liszt: Sonata In B/Ballade No.2/Consolation No.3/Funérailles/Mephisto Waltz No.1). But then there is no lack of power on the return of the dramatic section at 7:02, so maybe it took Rubinstein time to warm up to the piece on that recording day, or more likely he was just holding back in order not to shoot all his bolts at once (something I remarked also with Gilels studio recording done for RCA a few months before this one: Franz Schubert: Sonata in D,D.850, Op.53/Franz Liszt: Sonata in B Minor). Rubinstein shows no technical shortcoming that I can perceive, on the contrary: his octave scales and jumps in the first development section after the slow introduction are played with snap, and the pianist's digital fleetness and delicacy the right-hand filigree of the more lyrical passages is admirable (try 7:50 for instance). Admirable also is his fine and tasteful control of dynamics and his ability to clarify Liszt's complex textures, never blurring the left hand thanks to sparse pedalling. Overall he shows commendable accurateness in his realization of the score and overall doesn't fiddle around with tempos, except in a few spots where, like a few others, he is prone to turning Liszt 4/4 into 3/4 or 3/4 into 6/8 (at 14:55 for instance), or to shorten value of silences or semi-note - presumably in order to avoid an impression that the music is coming to a standstill: Rubinstein the showman never lurks far, afraid to bore his audience to sleep (or have it burst into applause) if he should let a silence last more than two seconds. He also adds a bar of chords at 19:30.



On the other hand, parts of the sonata, and most notably its beginning, sound curiously uninvolved. I commented on Horowitz' 1977 recording that he made the Sonata into a theatre play or an opera - and in all probability one involving Faust, Marguerite and Mephisto. Nothing like that with Rubinstein. His is an "objective" approach, he plays the music and nothing beyond the notes. It is a tasteful reading, maybe a little too much so for Liszt. Whatever you may think of Horowitz' 1977, love it (as I do) or hate it, you can't deny its theatricality and its demonic power. There is also a breath-taking, frenzied vehemence with Gilels in 1961. Nothing like that with Rubinstein. His final "stretto quasi presto" at 22:48 lacks a touch of fire and the kind of feeling of being on the brink of the abyss that Gilels brings to it to it. Rubinstein's interpretation is beautifully controlled and tasteful - and maybe a little too much so: after all, this is Liszt, not Chopin. His superb control is, I feel, both the reading's value and its shortcoming."



Still, this is one of the fine studio recordings of the Sonata from the 1960s, along with Curzon's (1963: Clifford Curzon: Decca Recordings, 1937-1971, Vol. 3) and Gilel's (1964/5: Franz Schubert: Sonata in D,D.850, Op.53/Franz Liszt: Sonata in B Minor), and a superb testimony of Rubinstein's artistry.



"