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24.10.10.7
In Reply to: RE: I think you've got it backwards posted by Chris from Lafayette on May 08, 2012 at 22:18:04
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from 1949, live in the Hollywood Bowl with the HBSO. Terrific playing, no sentimentality, and the orchestra sounds very much like Boston from which Mr. K had just retired. CD is from an AFN broadcast tape in good shape and sound quality is OK. Much less flab than the later version with Reiner.
This is a Carnegie Hall recording, from three years before the Hollywood Bowl performance with Koussevitzsky - tempos are said to be similar but the approach a bit less skittish and volatile with Golschmann.
The first movement is, as you said about the Koussevitzky performance, very impetuous - the kind of performance I'd imagine Martha Argerich giving in her prime. Despite that, there are portions that, for all the speed, are extremely clear and well articulated. And the 1946 sound quality is excellent for that time, despite the dynamic compression, which may result from the 78's, or from the lossy streaming on Spotify, or some combination of the two. I must say I was impressed.
The second movement also moves along, and I believe that this is the right approach. When the piano has the melody in single notes, the tones will just die unless the tempo moves along fast enough - so I agree with what Rubinstein and Golschmann are doing in this movement.
On to the third movement - here the tempos are more in line with other performances I've heard. But then when the main theme starts. . .
WHAT THE. . . ???
Rubinstein leaves out the left-hand figuration!!! And this is no mere one-time occurrence, because, when the theme repeats, Rubinstein leaves out the left-hand figuration AGAIN! And it's that left-hand figuration that makes this part of the movement so incredibly difficult to play. There are many, many recordings where the soloists are audibly constrained here, because the left-hand writing is so technically difficult here. But Rubinstein simply gives up at this place - shame on him! I think something similar happens in the coda, where Rubinstein plays single chords on the beat, rather than triplet-eighth chords as Rachmaninoff requested. I'm not entirely sure about this, since it's harder to hear, with the piano figuration covered by the orchestra. Nevertheless, this refusal on the part of Rubinstein to meet Rachmaninoff on the latter's own terms shoves this performance into the "specialist" category - I could never recommend it without a strong caveat, as much as I do like the first two movements.
Let me see now. . . who plays ALL the notes in the last movement of this concerto? Ah yes! Here's a very fine candidate:
Could you refer me to a miniature score bar number or measure number where this occurs?
Actually, I have only a Schirmer two-piano score (with the orchestra part reduced for the second piano), but it occurs right at cue number 28, and then again at cue number 29, and lasts for about four measures each time. The part near the end where I suspect he's not playing all the notes is six measures before the very end.
Oops! Just remembered: the full score is over at IMSLP (link below) - it's the old Soviet full score, but it has the same cue numbers.
Thanks, will check it out. The 1949 performance is live, but the writing is so fearlessly attacked throughout by the soloist it seems strange that Rubinstein would simplify here, or that Koussevitsky would go along with such.
h
. . . on that later recording, and that Rubinstein said he would never perform with Reiner again after those acrimonious sessions. Despite the hard time I was giving to jdaniel (it was all in fun!), I really didn't think the Rubinstein/Reiner recording was particularly slow. But I'll try to hear the recording with Koussevitsky - maybe it's on Spotify. I know that Rubinstein was a much more fiery player in the 40's than he was later on - for instance, his Beethoven Third with Toscanini was a much more exciting performance than his later recordings with various conductors.
perfect balance between yin and yang, nice "light and shade" on the part of Rubinstein and -- '54 recording I believe--a smallish soundstage but absolutely gorgeous, silky strings and sensible distance between mic's and orchestra.
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