(- German pressings of the immense Sony Classical Masters ...)
- German pressings of the immense Sony Classical Masters Catalog in smart, desirable and collectible multi-disc editions - The Sony catalog is replete with legendary artists and many of the greatest recordings of the classical repertoire - Box fronts feature large, prominently displayed photo of the featured artist - Slender, shelf-friendly boxes; CD's housed in space-saving slipsleeves
(- German pressings of the immense Sony Classical Masters ...)
- German pressings of the immense Sony Classical Masters Catalog in smart, desirable and collectible multi-disc editions - The Sony catalog is replete with legendary artists and many of the greatest recordings of the classical repertoire - Box fronts feature large, prominently displayed photo of the featured artist - Slender, shelf-friendly boxes; CD's housed in space-saving slipsleeves
(Szeryng and Rubinstein are splendid partners in these Bee...)
Szeryng and Rubinstein are splendid partners in these Beethoven Violin Sonatas recorded in 1958 and 1961. Szeryng's handsome, varied tone, with its quick vibrato, was a fine foil for Rubinstein's equally varied keyboard touch and mastery of color. And with an outsized personality like Rubinstein at the piano, the instruments are true equals. Both artists often left the impression of underinterpreting masterpieces, perhaps because they never subordinated main musical lines to local detail. But they never ignored detail, either, as we hear in these sonatas, where numerous little felicities of tonal color and phrasing enliven the music. Best of the trio is the Sonata No.8, played with the requisite force encased in a velvet glove of glorious tone from both artists. The Spring Sonata could be slightly more vernal, but it and the somewhat generalized Kreutzer Sonata will give much pleasure even if they don't quite match the versions by Francescatti and Grumiaux, among others. RCA's transfers are the best these recordings have received, so if you admire these artists (and who doesn't?), don't hesitate. --Dan Davis
(A classic collection of 11 CDs that compiles every record...)
A classic collection of 11 CDs that compiles every recording that the late Arthur Rubinstein released on the RCA label from 1946-1967! Many aficionados consider these definitive performances of Chopin repertoire, produced by the legendary Grammy award winner Max Wilcox and presented in both monaural and stereo recordings.
Artur Rubinstein in Concert - Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Schubert
(First DVD release of this legendary performance by a lege...)
First DVD release of this legendary performance by a legendary artist. "Rubinstein's superb form is matched by the incredible musical sensitivity of Haitink and the orchestra...Sounds and images are expertly cued to the split second... Rubinstein's face, body and hands are captured in a smooth flow of shots and reflections...The Beethoven takes on an almost Mozartean delicacy, the Brahms is infused with all the power it requires." --The New York Times A vibrant and revealing interview, "Rubinstein at 90" conducted by Robert MacNeil, is included as a bonus. Filmed in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, August 1973 (concert) and at Rubinstein's home in Paris, 1977 (interview) Artur Rubinstein, piano Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam Bernard Haitink, conductor Directed by Hugo Käch
Arthur Rubinstein was a Polish American classical pianist. He received international acclaim for his performances of the music written by a variety of composers and many regard him as the greatest Chopin interpreter of his time.
Background
Rubinstein was born in Lodz, Congress Poland (part of the Russian Empire for the entire time Rubinstein resided there) on January 28, 1887, to a Jewish family. He was the youngest of seven children of Felicja Blima Fajga (née Heiman) and Izaak Rubinstein. His father owned a small textile factory.
Education
He showed an early interest in music and by the age of eight was in Berlin as a proté gé protege of Brahms' friend Josef Joachim, studying theory with Max Bruch and piano with Heinrich Barth (who had, in turn, studied with Franz Liszt).
Career
Rubinstein was born on January 28, 1887, in Lodz, Poland, then part of Russia. He showed an early interest in music and by the age of eight was in Berlin as a protegeprotege of Brahms' friend Josef Joachim, studying theory with Max Bruch and piano with Heinrich Barth (who had, in turn, studied with Franz Liszt). Rubinstein's debut was in Berlin in 1898 with the Berlin Symphony.
He toured extensively, making his American debut in 1906, with little critical success. By the 1920's, however, his reputation was well established, and his return to the United States in 1937 was an unqualified triumph.
He settled in the United States in 1941, becoming a citizen in 1946.
His tone was large and elegant, his musical conceptions grandly architectural rather than circumscribed and careful in the more popular style of the 20th century.
Rubinstein recorded extensively. He published an autobiography, My Young Years, in 1973.
He died in Geneva, Switzerland, December 20, 1982.
Quotations:
Rubinstein also had exceptionally developed aural abilities, which allowed him to play whole symphonies in his mind. "At breakfast, I might pass a Brahms symphony in my head, " he said. "Then I am called to the phone, and half an hour later I find it's been going on all the time and I'm in the third movement. "
Interests
Music & Bands
Rubinstein was at home with practically any music, but he was considered to be at his finest when playing the works of the great 19th-century piano masters, such as Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, and Brahms.
Connections
t the age of 45, in 1932, Rubinstein married Nela Mlynarska, a 24-year-old Polish ballerina (who had studied with Mary Wigman). Nela was the daughter of the Polish conductor Emil Młynarski and his wife Anna Talko-Hryncewicz, who was from a Polish aristocratic heraldic family of Iłgowski coat of arms.
Nela had first fallen in love with Rubinstein when she was 18, but married Mieczysław Munz after Rubinstein began an affair with an Italian princess. Nela subsequently divorced Munz and three years later married Rubinstein.
They had five children (one died in infancy), including photographer Eva Rubinstein, who married William Sloane Coffin, and son John Rubinstein, a Tony Award-winning actor and father of actor Michael Weston.