Paganini Rhapsody (Rachmaninoff) - Arthur Rubinstein - (1/2)

[merrywivesofwindsor]

I just finished reading the first 1/2 of his autobiography - fascinating man with a fascinating early life. His words have helped me very much on the subject of music. A bit of trivia, he mentions in his autobiography the advantage of lengthy little fingers.

[ellie760]

To me Artun Rubinstein was one of the greatest pianists of all time. I have many of his recordings.

[wienerfan]

@ellie760 there is something about his demeanour, the natural showmanship without pretentiousness. Very few pianists today play quite like this. You can feel him thinking ahead always at the service of the music, and not drawing the listener too much to himself. It's inimitable. The effortless technique can be matched by thousands of conservatoire students, but not the musicianship and the aristocracy of this playing - that, as many have pointed out, is absolutely inimitable. Unique.

[jomoses07]

he's like a ninja with a piano!!!! O_o

[darkblueangel1956]

Smalto ritmico, sfoggio di grinta esecutiva, limpidezza di suono e una orchestra che si amalgama col solista in piena armonia !!! Leggendaria e di straordinaria eleganza interpretativa !!!!!!!!!!!

[wcibbt]

year?

[dinkarrao1]

hanamoon

[JonathanRabson]

Rubinstein is a great interpreter of this piece, especially in the CD I have of him, which I think was lost/stolen by a mover. But in this recording, the cuts are so shocking. It's hard to believe that Rubinstein agreed them (I think variations 7 and 9 were missing, if I counted correctly). It must be that the T.V. format forced them to time the performance to a certain length. Still, it's rather jarring.

[Brahmsfan]

Be glad there are so many beautiful recordings and interpretations out there! Sometimes listening to a different artist can make you fall in love with a piece all over again, and catch things that you didn't notice or realize before. This is a beautiful interpretation, thanks for sharing! :)

[JoeFisher12String]

may i suggest that you arguing nimrods go watch yuha wang play' flight of the bumblebee'.....then you will realise that as the ages go by, there will ALWAYS be GREAT musicians, but NEVER a "greatest"; merely those with higher profiles because of media favoritism.....a media made up of narrow minded people.....

[JACKSON2012music]

ART TATUM ?

[trevorwozny]

Rachmaninoff was a better pianist, at least IMHO. Rubinstein does not speak to me or inspire any intense feelings. He is a great artist, but I wouldn't list him as a favorite.

"To each their own" - Frederick the Great

[yaelypower]

@ThaiMike2010

you people are hilarious....

:D

[ezekieloak]

@ThaiMike2010 I have a genus AND a species. It's SO awesome!

[ezekieloak]

@ThaiMike2010 If cattle were playing the playing the piano I'd be writting "udder nonsense".

[ezekieloak]

@ThaiMike2010 Nej. For me, heroicpolonaise is the greatest. Richter was just the first name that came to my mind. I know better than to say anything stupid like So-and-so was/is/forever will be the greatest.

Anyway,

Everyone knows that Mohammed Ali was the greatest pianist ever.

[dagg67]

@ezekieloak Rubinstein would have knocked him out in the first round.

[k73f]

this is pure geniusness !!

[Malacandraful]

Te amo rubinstein !!D:

[BurningSkyFilms]

It's perfect.

[fishyfish4444]

I am so untalented.

[zeroevilz]

@fishyfish4444 me too

[animumaurarium]

Just love that, beyond any reason.

[kasumicool]

what age this was in?

[44032]

I just don't understand this piece. It's always seemed so schizophrenic to me. The "rhapsody" seems to have little to do with the amazingly beautiful theme of Paganini. Paganini doesn't seem to ris enautrally out of it like the theme in Rhapsody in Blue. This piece is like a wonderful dream emerging from a bad one.

[denver80222]

bonjour

pouvez vous me dire qui est le presentateur?

merci :-)

[Aidtox]

At this level of it is not possible to say that a musician is better than another.

[BenMcCormack91]

Rubinstein is one of the greatest. I know some think he's the greatest, but to be perfectly honest, if I had to choose between him and the late Horowitz, I'd shoot myself instead of making that decision.

[MusikPiratCH]

@BenMcCormack91

For me it would be a very easy choice - Rubinstein no question about that.

But don't urge me to decide between R. and Krystian Zimerman. There I couldn't really decide. Because I like the rhythm of R. and the technique of Zimerman! :D

[BenMcCormack91]

@MusikPiratCH Zimerman's very good, and I think very similar to Rubinstein in a lot of ways. Horowitz, on the other hand, is wildly different. I love a lot of his recordings, but I admit he's... shall we say an acquired taste?

[MusikPiratCH]

@BenMcCormack91

No, with acquired taste this has nothing to do. I just feel like you with Richter - Horowitz simply isn't my taste. To exaggerate H. only played Horowitz and not the music written (one exception: Liszt Mephisto Waltz)!

For me a Solomon, Kissin, Brendel, Gulda, Grimaud are all more to my musical spirit! My favorits remain Rubinstein and Zimerman! :D

[Qoind]

@BenMcCormack91 what about alfered cotrot, sviatoslav richter, moritz rosenthal, and gilels?

[BenMcCormack91]

@Qoind Gilels and Rosenthal are good, but I tend to stick with Horowitz, Rubinstein, Brendel, Pletnev, Ashkenazy, DeLarrocha, Bolet, Scherbakov, Rachmaninov and sometimes Argerich. Even if they've had ups and downs, I tend to connect best - emotionally and logically - with their playing, and have rarely had to go outside their work to find good piano recordings. I never liked Richter much at all, but I understand he's a good musician.  His playing just tends to be a little heavy for my taste.

[Qoind]

@BenMcCormack91 never heard of scherbakov, what is scherbakov first name?

[BenMcCormack91]

@Qoind Konstantin Scherbakov. He's got a very good recording of the Liszt-Beethoven symphonies, and generally tends to make even the hardest, most excessive pieces sound not only easy, but interesting.

[BenMcCormack91]

@Qoind By the way; I actually had never heard of Cortot. I just looked him up, and now I'm wondering why I hadn't! Thanks for alerting me to his presence, even if inadvertantly. I really like him.

[Qoind]

@BenMcCormack91 i also reccomend cziffra, he plays bery fast and is spectacular, and i still find him accurate at such high speeds.

[BenMcCormack91]

@Qoind Cziffra's got good technique, but I always thought his interpretations were a little... heartless. Personally. Very fast and accurate, but... I just needed more.

[meneltar]

@BenMcCormack91 Ben, Cziffra isn't heartless! Maybe you heard him in a bad day... Try his Chopin Waltzes, you'll see what I'm saying!

[BenMcCormack91]

@meneltar I know, I know, they're okay, I just don't personally like him as much as I like a lot of other pianists. I've really developed an ear for a more-Russian sound in the past few years, so that's the type of piano playing that really resonates with me.

[meneltar]

@BenMcCormack91 I'm not his son or something, I just think you're abstainning yourself to be delighted with his interpretations. I love Horowitz, Richter, Gilels, Sofronitsky and many other russian names too! They're just out of this world.

[BenMcCormack91]

@meneltar I form opinions based on my own criteria, and by my own criteria, Cziffra is not a great pianist. By yours, he is. Maybe I prioritize different aspects of performance than you do. Whatever the reason, it seems I am not a big fan of Cziffra. That's all there is to it. From the right perspective, any pianist could potentially be great, or awful. Cziffra isn't awful to me; I just am not a big fan.

[vaelrix]

@BenMcCormack91

I feel that way about Horowitz.

[rayclentchris]

Is it even possible to compare Rachmaninov and him? They both are amazing!

[Classicmozayfull]

hang on... is that DONALD SUTHERLAND?

[sebastian406]

@Classicmozayfull Hahah :D

[dster545]

@Classicmozayfull Close! Looks like Jose Ferrer to me.

[frogmanpiano]

R was simply at home on the piano...he had an enormous repertoire and was an all round concert pianist he played literally nearly a 100 concerts each year for more than fifty years! He played quite a lot of chamber music too. His forte was Chopin of course -but his Schubert wanderer fantasy and the B flat Sonata are special . he made many records all of which have been transferred to CD and should still be available long after we are all dead! Everyone should hear his Moonlight Sonata

[margot2022]

Does anyone know what year this is from? I'm just curious.

also, Rubinstein is brilliant

[huismanq]

It's from 1956

[ipmoic]

Of course the piece is cut! (I'm sure it was because of television time constraints) Be happy we have this much of it in a great performance by the masterful Artur Rubinstein.

Imagine how hard it was for HIM to remember all the cuts!

[Maja90LOVEBerezovsky]

Why didn't he play variations no. 6, 7, 11 and in the second part no. 16?

I can't believe it!

[Anth4444444]

Maybe he did not play variations 6, 7, and 11 because the person that put this into YouTube edited them out?? Ask him. I don't know.

[huismanq]

The missing variations were not edited out. This is an abridged performance to fit in the tv show it was filmed for. The complete tv show is available on DVD.

[mmaurer76]

Oh this is Rubenstein dear classical friend. Rach composed these variations on a theme by Paganini-There are some clips on here of Rachmaninov playing his own works (and somplaints he was not playing right (the audacity of people). But they are audio tracks

[swingballbros]

Rubinstein or Rachmaninoff?

[SEMPRELISZT]

Great version!! However, one variation is missing just before the one at 3'21".

'

[eltachimetro]

last monday i went to a concert where was played this rhapsody, 2nd & 3rd piano concertos by rachmaninov, that concert was AMAZING!!

[progressivelife]

I wish there was a better recording quality of his playing

[santiarbol88]

Matt Bellamy"s muse XD. Hes one of the best.

[elisasegal]

maravilloso!elisasegal entre riosargentina...bravo maestro

[AndTok2]

Spexter1337, you missed Var. XVI or Wallenstein or some1 did it ;-)

[pepeyjack]

de 5:48 a 6:29 es uno de los momentos musicales más hermosos que he oido en mi vida.

[Gnasherator]

gtimny, excellent serve. It's an honor to be corrected by you.

[thays35244]

Ilana Vered has more warmth...this is too mechanical.

[gtimny]

Oh please, Ilana!

[goldberg72]

si vero,incredibile!

[anfalagu]

bravo

[Ellinidara]

incredible.

[paulostroff99]

Wonderfully played by one of the all time great pianists. Bravo! TY.

[cattleman6420012000]

I really like Vladimir Ashkenazy playing this with Andre Previn. He did a wonderful recording of this work. There was amazing flair and togetherness.Ashkenazy's technique etc was fabulous at that time.

[ildivovaneildivovane]

so old but so AMAZING!

[michelmans]

Magnifique Rubinstein as always. In response to sanjosemike :-) I heard somewhere that he never played the 3rd because Horowitz played it too... :-)))

[sanjosemike]

Rubinstein knew Rachmaninoff as an acquaintance, even though they both spoke fluent Russian...they were never close friends.

Rubinstein never performed the Rachmaninoff 3rd concerto. He did record the Rach 2 Concerto and played it numerous times. Some question why Rubinstein never played the 3rd concerto...feeling in some cases that he didn't have the technique for it.

This performance would tend to dispute that...

sanjosemike

[paulostroff99]

sanjosernike- I have read that very long fingers are needed to play the 3rd best. Rubinstein had short stubby fingers-unlike Horowitz or Rach.

[sanjosemike]

I'm a "decent" enough pianist to read through Rach 3 myself. It is not smooth or ready for performance, I assure you. It does have some long reaches. However, Vladimir Ashkenazi plays it beautifully and has smaller hands than I do.

I know that because Ashkenazi "breaks" the beginning of Rach 2 solo chords up from the bass. I don't have to. I play Rach 2 "marginally" well enough to do with an orchestra.

It's possible to do Rach 3 without huge hands, but I can't yet do it.

sanjosemike

[paulostroff99]

sanjosemike-Good luck in your attempts! Best wishes.

P.S.-I've seen Ashkkenazi perform live,and he is a tiny man.

[hilocomtoot]

Rubinstein's hands look small but they spread a 12th...his little fingers were almost as long as his middle fingers. No paws like Cliburn or Rach which could both reach a 13th but a 12th can cover anything in the Rach 3rd.

[Gnasherator]

You guys, you guys! Rachmaninoff dedicated it to Josef Hofmann. You see the hands on that dude? SMALL. If you can't play it, don't think it's because you don't have hands the size of Kobe Bryant. Start guilt-tripping yourself on not prudently being aware of all the best finger groups in those passages. And look, Hofmann could beat Rachmaninoff's own tempo for the G minor prelude. Diminutive warhorse he was and so you must be, padawan.

[gtimny]

You're right, the Third Concerto was dedicated to Josef Hofmann (who did indeed have small hands) BUT Hofmann never played a note of it in public. Maybe because he found the stretches difficult, more likely because he just didn't like the piece.

[Bjf2011]

playing the rhapsody on a theme of Paganini requires that the pianist have long fingers. not all pianist can play the rhapsody. only few gifted pianist can play. here in the philippines we have two lady pianists who can play it so well. one is the well respected ms. ingrid sala santamaria the other is a much younger lady pianist. woops sorry i forgot her name.. lol!!

[everythingistken1291]

Cecile Licad?

[SamuelConcepcion]

No, lang-lang is the best.

[PhilipLu3]

I think I'll help you do this.

Edit: In my opinion, lang lang is the best.

[sklyingjoker]

bang bang is the most pretentious pianist i've ever seen walked the earth.

[Mahler1912]

@sklyingjoker I would not even call him a pianist....he is as exact and musical as a sewing machine.

[ClassicalMusicPL]

@sanjosemike

In think the same reason why he never performed many other Rachmaninoff compositions. Rubinstein once said that he just didn't like Rachmaninoff as a composer (he admired him as a performer much more), So he recorded only few of his works, in fact only three as far as I know - 2nd concerto, Paganini Rhapsody and Prelude in c sharp minor.

[vocalpianist]

how "difficult" is this compared to other concerto works?

[davidweiner23]

very difficult. its cadenza is the hardest I've ever seen in a concerto.

[vocalpianist]

i see, thank you

[paulostroff99]

Beautiful playing!

[Music2Die4]

Since Horowitz never did a public recording of this work (maybe one will show up someday), the perfect Paganini Rhapsody for me would be Ayako Uehara up to Variation 13, Stephen Hough from 14 to 18, and Rubinstein for 19 to the finish.

[Music2Die4]

I meant to say Uehara up to Variation 15, and Hough for 16 to 18. Then Artur for the rest.

[huismanq]

This was broadcast on December 10, 1956 for the first time. I don't know the recording date.

[nadyart]

Could I know when and where was this performance?

[yekhaty]

i don't complain, because, of course it is wonderful to see great rubinstein; but unfortunately variations 6, 7, 11, 16 are not played. especially 6 and 16 would be wonderful to hear from him, oh well.

[otterhouse]

I have many lp's of both pianist and conductor, but it's the first time I can SEE them together... Thanks for posting this.

-----------------------------

Rolf, Netherlnds.

I am a collector of classical 78's and lp's

Click "otterhose" above to see some of

my collection.

[heroicpolonaise]

awesome dude!!

rubinstein was/is/will be the best pianist ever and everyone knows that

[sackwhacker]

@heroicpolonaise

how about the composer of this piece himself?

obviously you're excluding someone very special!

[2012Ronpaul2012]

@heroicpolonaise sorry that title goes to rachman

[ezekieloak]

@heroicpolonaise As long as you're not being objective, Richter was/is/will be the best and everyone knows it.

[ojpe93]

best pianist ever?

what about Franz Liszt, Chopin and the other clasics?

[advisorC101]

@heroicpolonaise, Don't be such a fool. Rubinstein hated it very deeply when people spoke that way of him, it's because he knew that there is no such thing as a "best" in art.