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About Arthur Rubinstein (1887 - 1982)

 

 

 

Arthur Rubinstein

One of the most important pianist of the twentieth century whose influence and contribution to the appreciation of a variety of composers and musical styles rests side by side with his formidable interpretative capacity and superb musicality.

Rubinstein was born in Poland and his precocious talent was obvious from the age of three when he was taken to Berlin to play for Joseph Joachim, the great violinist. He later returned to Berlin to further his studies under Joachim and Bruch. He also took some lessons from his fellow-countryman Paderewski. His already successful concertising career took off explosively and for many years he was continuously travelling across the world (including at least one recorded visit to Hong Kong before the Second World War).

His artistic and financial success detracted, however, from serious study and development. Rubinstein took an amazing bold and honest decision in his mid-forties and he retired for several years from the public stage and concentrated in studying, improving his technique and expanding his repertoire.

His return to the stage was all the more impressive. He had a prodigious memory and therefore a huge repertoire, was a gifted sight-reader, spoke eight languages, but most importantly, he was an open-minded artist willing to learn, experiment and re-interpret. He continued to appear in public right down in his late eighties retiring only in 1976. He was a supporter of young musicians and of the development of musical education in Israel.

He promoted avidly and popularised the piano music of the �Spanish School?and of Latin American composers and specifically that of Granados, Albeniz, Falla and Villa-Lobos. Even more importantly he promoted the music of composers who at the time were considered �modern?and therefore somehow off the beaten track. These included Stravinsky, Szymanowski, Poulenc and Prokofiev, but also surprisingly for us now, Debussy and Ravel. It is indicative of the courage and dedication of the man when early in his career an audience booed him for playing the then relatively unknown and dissonant Valses nobles and sentimentales by Ravel, that he calmly played them in their entirety as an encore to the same stunned audience!

Undoubtedly, however, Rubinstein is most closely associated with the music of his fellow-Pole, Frederic Chopin. Rubinstein brought to the interpretation of Chopin a new unsentimental but by no means cold approach, casting aside the overomanticised overlay of the nineteenth century view of the composer. In the process he revealed not only the inner beauty of the music but also laid firmly the foundation of approaching Chopin as an �iceberg? There is a great deal more hidden and submerged in the music than what appears on the surface. The fragility of the composer belied the tremendous strength inherent in his compositions.

Rubinstein�s extensive discography allows us now to continue to enjoy the musical heritage he left behind not only in his solo performances but also in piano concerts and in chamber music performances.

 

Andrew Freris

 

 

 

 

 

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