Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Anton Rubinstein, Artur Rubinstein :: Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 75

Below average performance (for Rubinstein) of masterworks

Michael Simpson | Austin, TX USA | 03/23/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"It may be my own personal bias, but I rate Mozart's g minor piano quartet as one of his desert island masterpieces. Although it has the grace and apparent ease of composition that is typical of Mozart, the dark character and expanded form of its first movement remind me of Beethoven (I think of this quartet and Beethoven's "Ghost" Trio as a set). The Eb quartet, which I am less familiar with, is another late work that confounded the amateurs of Mozart's day. Unfortunately, the recordings of the quartets on this re-release were made in 1971, when Rubinstein was 85. His deafness may have been the cause of a lack of "musical cohesiveness" that even the liner notes acknowledge. Of course, Rubinstein on a bad day is still Rubinstein. I am not familiar enough with the other recordings to recommend an alternative, but if you are expecting something more than a slightly-above-average execution of the quartets, I suspect you will be disappointed.



But the disc is far from a total loss. The "also-starring" piece to fill out the disc is Mozart's Rondo in a minor, K. 511. I had never heard of this before hearing this disc. It is astonishing, both by the composer and the performer. The rondo was written in 1787, a very difficult year in Mozart's life, and its tone compares to the later piano concertos. As for Rubinstein, he began performing this piece when he was 10, although this recording is from 1959 -- according to the liner notes, the only piano solo piece that he ever recorded! Again, I am not much of a discophile, but I cannot imagine a recording of this Rondo that surpasses Rubinstein's -- perhaps a digital recording may have less background hiss, but that is the only fault to be found here."