This was the first half of a recital given in Warsaw in September 1966. The second half consisted of two pieces by Debussy, Scherzo-Waltz by Chabrier and Chopin G minor Ballade, two Etudes and the B minor Scherzo.
Yes, a really LIVE performance, doesn´t matter it was over 50 years ago. What a strength, what an art, what a gentleman at the keyboard. He was unique.
His musicality was direct and to the point...in other words...simplicity! AR was never a neurotic, nervous, or "splashy" pianist. He was a musician first and foremost. Loved life, loved music, and loved people... It is that simple!
Rubinstein was the pianist I listened to the most growing up playing the piano and eventually having a career in music. His playing is so personnal and organic, not at all dry and academic. It sounds like he creating the music as he is playing.
Astonishing sound quality for a film thats over 55 years old. And what dignity at the keyboard. Technique that's trancended the technical and has merged with musicianship completely. its just effortless!
We had Rubenstein, my favorite pianist, playing the Schubert Sonata on an old 8-track tape that eventually broke from playing it so much. I first heard this when I was about 11 and as a young piano student I begged my parents to get me a copy of the music. That didn't happen for another 5 years. I then learned the sonata and still enjoy it today.
A real legend - I remember watching the tv series he did as an old man, reminiscing about his long life and playing the piano - I was around fifteen at the time. Recently picked up his book of memoirs at a thrift shop, a wonderful bok too! :) Speaking of Schubert, around the same time that I was watching Rubinstein on the tv, I also bought a 9-LP box from DG with all of Schubert's piano sonatas (including the many unfinished ones from his apprentice years up till the brilliant C major Reliquie sonata of 1825) played by Wilhelm Kempff, another legend of the same generation - with two booklets, one about Schubert and the sonatas, one about Kempff and his illustrious career.. I have listened to those recordings lots of times, and the boxed set remains one of the most cherished items in my (extensive) record collection. :)
With my parents I saw and wondered at this gentleman's playing for us at the Newcastle Theatre Royal in the mid 1970s, so beautiful and he was friendly, we loved him that evening...
A very well prepared instrument for The Maestro. Incredibly voiced and tempered with clean unisons throughout the registers. And a great recording and/or remastering.
I heard Rubinstein live many times in the 1960s, and those remain the greatest musical experiences of my life. He made many excellent recordings, but nothing was like a live Rubinstein recital. He was obviously inspired by his audience, and for pieces he had played all his life, it was like he had just discovered the music and wanted to share his joy with us. With occasional wrong notes and all, his playing was so beautiful, and always in the service of the composer, never any flashy show-off.
Such utter freedom and perfect naturalness. And a right hand made of solid gold. Rubinstein was at his best playing for an audience; no matter how large the hall, you felt he was playing directly to you. Thank you for posting this!
Times have changed since Classical Music itself was revered. They are no longer being recorded, and symphony orchestras are hanging on by their fingernails...
Rubenstein the legend in all his glory! What more can I say of this genius. Just running short of superlatives such was his mastery the moment he lay his fingers on the keyboard!
Carnaval is really great. Rubinstein makes it sound complete like a story teller. All parts are perfectly put together and gel in. It ist so amazing how he keeps control over each piece to make it sound as part of a whole concept. Never mind remembering all the notes and the technique at his age, not to forget the other pieces...just amazing! Thank you so much for sharing this gem!
So glad to see Rubinstein in full regalia. Nothing quite as graceful as watching this master in action and hearing the matchless touch he brought to every piece. Bravo!
I looked at the faces in the audience and realized that I'm fortunate to still be able to listen to this beautiful music... I saw some a few years older than me, hope they are still around to enjoy the music...
Thanks for posting. I'm standing in the kitchen holding my breath as not to disturb him. A universe to learn from watching and listening to this kind of genius.
What an unexpected treat! Thank you. I was 24 in that year, and we had all his LPs in our house, but this is the first time I’ve heard him play the D960. You have made my day!
1:00:03-1:00:08 - now that is Rubinstein alright! I've never seen any videos of him playing this Schubert sonata or Schumann's Carnaval before, this is an incredible treat. Thank you for uploading!
I believe this Schubert is the one he once said he started too late in life working on it to commit it to a commercial recording. Thankfully he let this recital be recorded!
@@leongreen8088 I'm not sure which Schubert he could have been referring to. He made two commercial recordings of D960, both in the early 60's. I believe the later of the two was released on LP at the time, and the earlier was held back until a CD release in the 90's. Both are available now on RCA's Rubinstein Collection.
There a quite a few of superb pianists performing these pieces, including Sir Arthur. They all put their own “reading” to them,and that makes their interpretations unique. A.Rubinstein’s Schubert and Schumann are uniquely his, lovingly and beautifully preserved as they were intended to be played.
I've never seen the 1st movement of a Schubert's Sonata win an applause. His sound is so rich - his right 5th finger sings so profoundly that it could charm a snake. What an outstanding beauty.
Outstanding grace and artistry in the Sonata technical mastery and musicality in the Carnaval. A musical tour de force! If you have the second half of the recital, please post! Thank you.
I grew up listening to his Chopin. I find his interpretation to be very singing, which seems a lovely way to play Schubert. Recent studies have demonstrated that there are exactly 1,783,249 ways to play Schubert. Nothing less than reverence is acceptable.
I had several favorites as a child, Horowitz, Cziffra. But I had a lovely little record of Rubenstein playing the 17th concerto of Mozart, and I must have played a thousand times. Elegance and perfection.
Thanks for this jewel. You made my day listening to Rubinstein. God doesn't make many of them anymore these days. Tx a lot. Look forward for the 2nd part.
A few years before this performance, my piano teacher took me tp a concert he was giving in Cincinnati and he was stunning! Thank you, Mrs. Coughenour. You made such a huge difference in my life!. Very sadly she died in 2011 and I will always miss her.
Tengo poco de escuchar a Rubinstein y me ha cautivado su interpretacion que enriquece el alma. Pocos como el fueron tocados por Dios para ofrecernos este alimento para el espiritú.
Such wonderful sonorous tone, and very sincere and unaffected playing. I am struck also by his lack of facial expressions/theatrics. Practically no one these days has this kind of self-possessed demeanor. I know that our relationship to our emotions and psychology has changed since his generation, and in some ways this has been a positive development, though I also can't help but think that a certain nobility has been lost.
We sold a bit of our souls when the cd came. I like so much his interviews, like the Enigma about Richter. This honesty and austerity doesn’t have much place in this fast and image dependent world we have now.
This video is amazing ! Carnaval ,I only listened to New York studio version in 1963, I wonder Haruki Murakami saw this or not.Also D.960 is impressive for me ,I love another version recorded in RCA studio in Rome in 1965. Thank you so much, from Japan.
I love this recording and others like it, as a window into the past and different performance styles over the years. He's 79 in this recording - and an 18 year old in the audience would be 75 today. How amazing is the attention span of the audience!
Lo rivedo sul palco del Teatro Biondo....io avevo 16 anni e lui mi incantava...con le sue magiche mani...che non firmavano autografi....ma che accarezzavano dolcemente i capelli con un sorriso splendido....che annullava la mia delusione!!
I see him on the stage of the Teatro Biondo.... I was 16 years old and he enchanted me...with his magical hands...that did not sign autographs.... but that gently caressed the hair with a beautiful smile.... that canceled my disappointment!!
There is a video of Horowitz playing the Carnaval on RU-vid when he was around the same age Rubinstein is in this video. No contest…this performance is amazing.
VH was suffering from side-effects of his medication at the time. I thought this was common knowledge, with all due respect. Anyway, there's indeed no comparison, due to VH's circumstances at the time of his infamous Tokyo performance.
What a truly masterful pianistic giant, he indeed is! All piano students should learn every aspect of this pianistic genius, particularly my compatriots who tend to emphasize bodily gestures and facial expressions, while distracting away from true pianistic essence and spirit.
@@donaldallen1771 -- Ohlsson knows Rachmaninoff the same way the rest of us do: via his recordings. He never heard him live (Rachmaninoff died in 1943; Ohlsson was born in 1948). Rachmaninoff's 78 rpm "Carnaval" has long been praised, as have Rubinstein's two studio recordings and several in-concert performances.
Absolutely wonderful. Rubinstein was always in his element when playing in public. Both performances here are better than his commercial recordings. Is there a video of the second half of the concert?
I feel like he was almost a completely different pianist live. Things that could sound stiff or stilted in the studio always came to life. After hearing him for the first time live I said "now I know why he's considered to be one of the greatest pianists of the century." You really had to hear him live to experience him fully.
Love this sonata, grateful for this recording. Being Viennese I expect a certain style of Schubert's piano music, most renderings are not close to that but Rubinstein comes near though some of the schuber't's spirituality still falls victim to a Beethoven like interpretation.
This is very strange. It is, of course, wonderful to have life footage of this great musician and in such amazing sound. I wanted to be moved and yet somehow I wasn't. I have loved the Schubert for over 45 years and I have heard many performances. This is definitely better than his studio recording but still... There's something strange about late Schubert which interpreters have to find their way through. In this piece, for me at least, it lies in the gaps between the phrases and sometimes within the phrases (the trill interruptions in the first movement for instance). There is definitely no "one way" to do this and I have been moved by many, very different artists (Richter vs Uchida, for instance). When an interpretation works, what it gives me is an answer to this strangeness. I find lots to admire here, not least the sheer beauty of the sound and perfect voicing. But somehow the strangeness has been tamed by a kind of sovereign control. More German than Austrian. If this sounds like carping criticism, I apologise. Thank you very much for sharing.
I hate the word "awesome", because it is meaningless. I hate the word "absolutely" almost as much, because everybody uses it, and it is EQUALLY meaningless...
This is the Piano Sound...in all its glory. Unlike so many scams...today. He was able to produce such a sound, among other things, because he applied all the weight From his Back. That's the ideal technique (the smartest). And also the best one in order to get such an enormous sound without getting tired... (at least, as minimum as possible).
I like pianists. The great and the stray, The big wooden box with metal strings. Some dance it into the sky : Audio gives me a taste. Paper cones and D Class amplifiers sneak much of the noises they make into ny room, I am attentive and quiet. :)
