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Rubinstein's approach to the Pathetique is characteristic of his Beethoven playing: Tempos are sensible, avoiding extremes of speed or slowness; phrasing is devoid of artifice; pedalling is sparser than Beethoven's written indications, but many of Beethoven's contemoparies claim Beethoven over-pedalled; repeats are generally taken. Some purists will object to the way Rubinstein plays some of the grace notes and ornaments in the first movement, but there has been no conclusive evidence either way on the "correct" manner to handle them (Beethoven probably didn't care anyway).
This CD contains Rubinstein's only recording of the inescapable Moonlight Sonata. He performed it in public several times during the 1962-1963 season, and then dropped it from his repertoire. The first movement is played simply, even a little dryly, as is the second movement. But Rubinstein lets loose in the Finale, bringing the work to a stunning close. Nobody else could hit a piano that hard and still create such a beautiful sound.
The Appassionata was a favorite of Rubinstein's. He featured it in his earliest concert performances, played it almost to the end of his career, and recorded it three times. This recording is more successful than the previous two (the first was almost comically slapdash). Max Wilcox, the producer of the original recording, has noted that this was one of the few times Rubinstein became hampered in the recording studio, and many takes were required before Rubinstein was satisfied. But one could never guess that from listening to the resulting performance, it is totally organic and betrays no hint of being spliced together.
The Les Adieu Sonata rounds out the album, bringing a joyous conclusion to a wonderful recording.
RCA has remastered the sound, which was pretty good to begin with, with their usual attention to detail.
Even though the most thrilling, white-hot performance that I have ever heard of the Appassionata is by Pollini, I am not giving this CD anything less than five stars. While there may be individual performances of each of these individual sonatas that are as good as these, or, in the case of Pollini's Appassionata or Gilels' Pathetique, arguably better, I cannot think of any single CD by a single pianist that provides more beautiful performances, taken as a whole, of these four sonatas. As he plays through the allegro and adagio movements of each sonata, Rubinstein brings out vividly both the fiery passion and the poetic grace in these works. He does play some passages with a certain reserve, but I consider it the reserve of a master pianist with more than sixty years of experience, both in music and in life, playing these sonatas with precision as well as passion, not only savoring but serving the music as he plays it, subordinating himself and his ability for pianistic pyrotechnics to its beauty.
Rubinstein's highly polished technique and consummate mastery of the keyboard are stunning; his sense of rhythm, his scintillating runs, trills, and arpeggios, and his joining together of elegance and passion, are a wonder to behold. In addition, his control is an amazing example of power held in reserve: he knows exactly how hard to hit the piano in the louder passages to bring out all of the passion in the music without ever letting the sound degenerate to the level of mere percussive noise. As Hank Drake writes in his review of this CD, "Nobody else could hit a piano that hard and still create such a beautiful sound."
The sound engineering, with 20-bit remastering of the original analog recordings, is excellent.
Not only is this CD a pleasure to listen to, but the essay in the insert is one of the most well-written, interesting, and lengthy (8 pages) that I have encountered in the Rubinstein CD series, with information on Beethoven, these four sonatas, and Rubinstein, including extracts from Rubinstein's "My Young Years." Very highly recommended.
So here we have four famous works played in an "usual" way, but with a tone quality and a good taste that couldn't be more "unusual": it's Ruby all the way, folks!
The "Pathetique" is a triumph of great sound and proportions, as well as the "Appassionata", but I think they both lack the sparkle of earlier recordings (vol. 10 and 14). The "Moonlight" sounds beautiful in its under-romanticism, and "Les Adieux" is probably the winner of the whole disc, with its lovely and passionate tone and clever use of rubato.
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