Click on the link here for Audio Player – Part 1:
Click on the lnk here for Audio Player – Part 2:
Over to Geneva Switzerland for a historic concert by Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, conducted by their Music Director of many years Ernest Ansermet and featuring the legendary Artur Rubinstein, piano in a concert recorded circa 1955 (no exact dates, sorry – mentioned in the program as April 1960, but no confirmation). It was rebroadcast as part of the ongoing RTS Espace 2 radio series Fauteuil d’Orchestre, which runs historic concerts every week (hint-hint: check them out).
Although best known as a recitalist and concerto soloist, Rubinstein was also considered an outstanding chamber musician, partnering with such luminaries as Henryk Szeryng, Jascha Heifetz, Pablo Casals, Gregor Piatigorsky and the Guarneri Quartet. Rubinstein recorded much of the core piano repertoire, particularly that of the Romantic composers. At the time of his death, The New York Times in describing him wrote, “Chopin was his specialty … it was [as] a Chopinist that he was considered by many without peer.”With the exception of the Études, he recorded most of the works of Chopin. In 1964, at the height of the Cold War, he gave a legendary concert in Moscow, with a pure Chopin program. He was one of the earliest champions of Spanish and South American composers, as well as French composers of the early 20th century (such as Debussy and Ravel). In addition, Rubinstein promoted the music of his compatriot Karol Szymanowski. Rubinstein, in conversation with Alexander Scriabin, named Brahms as his favorite composer, a response that enraged Scriabin.
This concert is pretty straightforward – beginning (on the top player) with the Overture to Egmont by Beethoven. Rubinstein joins the orchestra in a performance of the Brahms 1st Piano Concerto. And in the second half (on the bottom player), the concert concludes with deFalla’s Nights In The Gardens Of Spain.
Something that definitely works around Rush Hour.
Enjoy.
