Classic Archive: Artur Rubinstein - The Legendary Moscow Recital
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Actor: Artur RubinsteinBrand: Naxos OF America INC
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Black & White, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 97 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-01-27
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: IDEALE AUDIENCE INTL
DVD Reviews of Classic Archive: Artur Rubinstein - The Legendary Moscow Recital
DVD Review: Prime Rubinstein
Summary: 5 Stars
Rubinstein's prime years lasted, in my opinion, roughly from the the mid 1940s to the mid 1960s, so this concert falls near the end of that time. (Of course, even into the 1970s he remained formidable technically, and he never lost any of his natural charisma.)
The first piece on the program may be the most powerful performance of Chopin's F-sharp minor Polonaise on record. His octaves (which Rubinstein was not particularly known for) are clean and strong; his fingerwork (particularly the left hand runs) snaps like a cobra, never forcing him to 'stretch' the rhythm; and most importantly his natural yet steely rhythmic spine never wavers. The performance is absolutely compelling.
After that, the Impromptu evolves in the natural, easy, logically breathing way which only Rubinstein could evoke.
The Sonata, too, is absolutely compelling. No one attacks the 1st movement's coda the way he does. Some no dount dismiss his approach here as bombast, all temprament and no reason or control. I believe that criticism is ridiculous. He leads up to it logically and continues after it logically, directly into the scherzo movement, so that this coda becomes one of a series of climactic moments which are one thread tieing the piece together. Unfortunately, at the end of the exposition of the scherzo movement, he starts playing the recapitulation instead and ends up completely lost in a memory slip from which he must improvise his way to the begining of the trio. But then he cuts back to the chomatic double 4ths and tries it again, and forgets it even worse than the first time! This is a huge lapse, and I cannot say that it doesn't detract from the overall impact of the performance. For me, though, it does not ruin it. His Funeral March movement has all the rhetorical power and grand sweep of the Rubinstein manner, full of sentiment but without sentimentality, as he himself once wrote. And in the finale, the 77 year old man is a technical marvel, fingers as assured as Richter's, pedaling but never smudging, leading, logically as always, to the final shocking B-flat minor chord.
The second half begins with the Barcarolle, and I believe it stands with the F-sharp minor Polonaise as among the most powerful performances on record. The Rubinstein rhythmic spine is still there, though slightly more limpid, as the piece demands, and he stretches it beautifully in the coda to make the most of the harmonic disonances. His trills in double 3rds are as liquid silver, and the overall, natural breathing quality is always there.
The Nocturne and A minor waltz have exactly those same qualities. They are uncomplicated and beautifully played, without the least rhetorical mannerism.
The same goes for the three Etudes. Unfortunately, the last one, Op. 10 no. 4, is the only piece in the whole program in which we never see a shot of his hands. It is overpowering in its sheer masculine sweep and rhythmic drive.
As he begins with a Polonaise, so he ends with one: the famous A-flat. It is much as his other performances of it: big and noble. He does not strive for any subltlety here as he does elsewhere, and he does not need to.
The encores are fantastic as well. In particular the Chopin waltz, with the ascending right hand scales extended an extra octave (though kept strictly in time), is marvelous and fun.
Anyone who appreciates what Rubinstein had to offer as a musician and pianist will love this concert.
Description of Classic Archive: Artur Rubinstein - The Legendary Moscow Recital
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