COMPOSERS: Chopin
LABELS: RCA Red Seal Twofer
WORKS: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor; Piano Sonata in B flat minor
PERFORMER: Artur Rubinstein (piano)Symphony of the Air/Alfred Wallenstein
CATALOGUE NO: 74321 34175 2 ADD
Rubinstein played Chopin like nobody else. His sheer panache is captivating, while the grand scale of his conceptions is always tempered with humanity and tenderness. He has a particular solidity of rhythm which, far from being rigid, gives the music plenty of space for breath. The A major Polonaise, for example, is played with fabulously grand flair. The Concerto No. 2 is weaker, plentifully sprinkled with wrong notes. Sound quality inevitably varies, since the disc is cobbled together from numerous recordings made between 1958 and 1965. Jessica Duchen
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor; Piano Sonata in B flat minor
Rubinstein played Chopin like nobody else. His sheer panache is captivating, while the grand scale of his conceptions is always tempered with humanity and tenderness. He has a particular solidity of rhythm which, far from being rigid, gives the music plenty of space for breath. The A major Polonaise, for example, is played with fabulously grand flair. The Concerto No. 2 is weaker, plentifully sprinkled with wrong notes. Sound quality inevitably varies, since the disc is cobbled together from numerous recordings made between 1958 and 1965. Jessica Duchen
Our rating
4
Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:39 pm