Arthur Rubinstein - Chopin 19 Nocturnes (Vol. 49) | Frederic Chopin, Artur Rubinstein

Arthur Rubinstein - Chopin 19 Nocturnes (Vol. 49) | Frederic Chopin, Artur Rubinstein | Arthur Rubenstein - Chopin 19 Nocturnes (Vol. 49)

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	Arthur Rubinstein - Chopin 19 Nocturnes (Vol. 49) Frederic Chopin, Artur Rubinstein RCA, 2000 average customer review:based on 18 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Despite Arthur Rubinstein's extroverted personality and open-hearted interpretive approach, his performances of Chopin's introspective, half-lit Nocturnes inspired him to some of his greatest recordings, as this, the last of his three traversals of the 19, amply demonstrates. His earlier recordings, from 1936-37 and 1949-50, have their admirers, but this set dating from 1965 and 1967 is superior for its interpretive depth and realistic stereo sound. It's a touch slower than the earlier versions, and Rubinstein's glorious tone color, mastery of shadings, and unerring sense of rubato help make these among his greatest recordings. He makes the music breathe as few others have; the melodies go straight to the heart thanks to subtle phrasing that wrings worlds of emotion without wallowing. That sense of naturalness and inevitability in his playing can be heard in every one of these 19 works. It makes the start of Op. 27, No. 1 deeply moving and inspires awe at the way he brings structural clarity to Op. 48, No. 1 without compromising its mood. Others may have equaled his achievement in one or another of these works, but as a set, this is inspired pianism. --Dan Davis

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An Antti Keisala Comment: Chopin Divine, Saddest Music In The World

Sometimes we feel we're unspeakably down: nights when you're exhausted by your daily routines and the dreamer in you wakes up in vain. Some people read romantic short stories. Some go to have long walks on the beach. When I'm blue, I either go running or watch Wong's "Chunking Express", some Tarkovsky or listen to the saddest music. To music most divine. That's this Rubinstein's interpretations of Chopin are high on that list, as they are on every other best-of list I've yet compiled.

Simply put, this is a masterly artist interpreting the most masterly artist of our time.

Chopin is, to me, the epitome of an artist who invests his whole soul to his music. A poet whose own poems start to shape his heart. Others can comment (and have already done so) on the technical aspects of either Chopin or Rubinstein's skill, but I merely wish to articulate how shocking his music is in how it bares the soul, how naked it is. In modern rock music, I've found Peter Gabriel to work this way, at least the Peter Gabriel of the untitled era, up to the album "Us". This is the greatest of commitment, almost a secret made between the composer and listener. The music approaches the listener in such a direct way not from the outside but from within. And this has nothing to do with who's playing the piano. There are simply passages that are larger than either the player or our comprehension. The silences, the rubatos, the relation of the notes to the mood of the thing, to the heart of the matter. Rubinstein just happens the most open-hearted, as one of the editorial reviews points out.

About Chopin. He's not like Bach in my books, whom I've found to appear emotionally majestic yet who's more like the Peter Greenaway of classical music; more showy and mathematical, calculating. Adhering to a certain cosmology rather than inventing and investing straight from and to the soul. Whereas Bach relies on framework in which he fills his music (this is, of course, the Zeitgeist of his time and style of music and in itself nothing remarkably revealing) with the finest of contrapuncts, Chopin's method is to create a free flow of melody, harmony, tempo and dynamics. It's organic and it's fluid. I don't think I should even mention Mozart's badinage. Rubinstein uses the rubato of Chopin to a great extent, which makes for some of the most breathtaking passages ever played on a piano. I play piano so badly I'll never have the possibility to play Chopin properly, but I've done the 'next best thing', that is, I've played him as transcribed for the guitar by Franscisco Tárrega. Those transcriptions, in my mind, contain that bittersweet chance of rubato, and that nakedness translates to the guitar quite well. But that's not the real thing.

This is. Of course, the best thing is to get all of Rubinstein's recordings, but if I was to make the hardest decision and choose only one, this would be it. Very close would be the Preludes as well as the Mazurkas, but this is perhaps the most heavenly music. Only Pärt's "Alina" continually reaches me on such a personal level. These songs made me believe that music can change your life.

Now I'm going to try and sell this item to you. Thus I'll have to ask that particular question: what is it about Rubinstein? We know him as the mastermind, the giant interpreter, who revolutionized how we listen to Chopin. But this isn't just merits, or otherwise he wouldn't be celebrated today for anything else than just showing a different path at the time. And this is a sad destiny some other artists share. Where Rubinstein triumphs is that his playing is much like what Chopin's music is like: it's a rare gift for us to find two artists with the same soul. This is why I think Rubinstein continues to be important and these records even life-altering. That's not in his technical skill, per se, it's in his ability to channel something from within, lift up something from the notes that can only be read between the lines. He's intimate, much like the music, and that's why I let him come close and do his best. Most beautiful music, most uplifting music; the saddest music in the world.

With best regards,
AK

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Arthur Rubenstein - Chopin 19 Nocturnes (Vol. 49)

Arthur Rubenstein interprets Chopin beautifully with great emotion. It would have been interesting, were it possible, to have him play these great works in the presence of Chopin to get his reaction. The "Red Seal" RCA label lives up to it reputation for having made some of the very best quality recordings ever made. The crisp, clear and true to the original sound makes you feel as though you were in the studio while the recording was being made.

Comparison of Rubinstein, Moravec, Arrau, Pires on Chopin nocturnes

With my large collection of CDs (downloaded in WAVE to iTunes and a 160GB iPod), I realized that one of my all-time favorite collections for late nightime is Chopin's nocturnes. The pianist I had was Maria Joao Pires, selected years ago for no apparent reason. Recently I looked within Amazon at the various comments and listened to several other versions. To my surprised there seemed to be others that sounded superior. I wasn't sure, though, because how accurate is a 1 minute sound-bit though the internet. To test it out, I ordered 3 new sets that had high reviews: Rubinstein, Moravec, and Arrau. (By way of background, I seat on the Board of Directors of a regional symphony, but I have never heard of any of these pianists, except for Rubinstein.) After the CDs arrived, I have carefully comparing various nocturnes for all four pianists. First, my preference for nocturnes is sleepy/dreary as though right before going to bed. No Beethoven's Fifth if I want to go to sleep anytime soon. To my surprise there were real differences. I don't know if it is the piano, recording, or what. My favorites are Moravec and Rubinstein. They are both very musical, restful and peaceful. I expected Rubinstein to be poorly recorded, but not so. Between the two, I generally prefer Moravec. For No. 13 (Op. 48, No. 1 in c), however, I like Rubinstein better. The other two seem a far distance 3th and 4th place. Arrau seems more mechanical, and it sounds as though the recording was right next to the piano sound board - too shrill for my tastes. Pires is more similar to Arrau than to Moravec or Rubinstein. As to all of them, I have no prior allegiance, instead simply tried to compare them for my tastes. Hope this helps others.

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