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The Chopin Mazurkas with Arthur Rubinstein (rebroadcast) · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

• 0:08
  Hello friends, welcome to the Piano Maven podcast.
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  My name is Jed Distler and the Piano Maven is
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  your friendly guide to piano recordings. Last
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  time we were talking about Arthur Rubinstein
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  and his 1964 Moscow recital, which is one of
• 0:30
  the great piano recitals ever preserved in any
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  form. It's available on video and in audio form.
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  And it got me thinking about what I said about
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  how Arthur Rubinstein tended to be more careful
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  in the recording studio than in his live performances.
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  But I sometimes find that the care and attention
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  to detail that Rubinstein brought to his studio
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  work does benefit certain repertoire, like the
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  Chopin mazurkas. These are pieces that count
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  among Chopin's most personal as well as most
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  experimental compositions. They run the gamut
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  from... earthy elementalism to folk -like simplicity
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  to exquisite harmonic refinement and contrapuntal
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  rigor. And probably more than in any other genre
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  that Chopin composed in, the mazurkas seem to
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  lend themselves to the widest range of interpretive
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  possibilities. You have, for example, Ignaz Friedman's
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  epic and larger -than -life approach to the mazurkas,
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  but then you have the total opposite of that
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  from very poetic and intimate mazurka players
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  like Marilia Jonas. Did I pronounce her name
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  right? Marie -La Jonas, somebody who's going
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  to correct me. Also, Guillemar Nováez is a very
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  intimate mazurka player in that sense. See, I
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  pronounced her name correctly because I used
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  to speak Portuguese, even though I completely
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  forgot how to speak Portuguese. Now, when Arthur
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  Rubinstein was asked by the HMV label to record
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  all of the Chopin mazurkas in the late 1930s,
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  at first he wasn't quite sure. He wanted to do
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  the project. But once he started reading through
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  the pieces, many of which were not in his repertoire,
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  he eventually acquiesced. And probably because
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  many of these mazurkas were fresh to Rubinstein,
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  were brand new, he plays them with great abandon
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  and rhythmic elan. And sometimes he can be a
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  little cavalier here and there over details.
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  But the sense of spontaneity and exuberance always...
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  comes through in these late 1930s mazurka recordings.
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  But then Arthur Rubinstein re -recorded the mazurkas
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  in the early 1950s. And here the piano is more
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  closely miked and the sound lacks some of the
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  roundness of the HMV recordings which were made
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  in the Abbey Road studio. But the interpretations
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  retain much of the... I guess, athleticism of
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  the 78 RPM versions, yet with a little more attention
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  to detail and a little bit more discipline this
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  time. However, when Rubinstein remade, or I guess
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  we say re -remade, the Mazurkas for a third time
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  in the mid -1960s in stereo, when he remade these,
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  his approach had become more deliberate. I guess
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  one could say more Germanic. I don't know. But
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  the thoughtfulness that he brings to these later
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  stereo performances are also more precise and
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  thought out in terms of ornamentation. And there's
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  a lot more care in how phrases take shape and
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  move from one to another. But the underlying
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  mazurka rhythm is almost always present. not
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  quite so robust and extroverted as in the earlier
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  78 and mono LP cycles. I would say, I guess,
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  that the second Rubinstein cycle, the 1950s mono
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  recordings, maybe they split the difference between
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  the 30s exuberance and the 60s thoughtfulness.
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  Personally, I listen more to the spontaneous
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  1930s cycle. and the more thoughtful 1960s cycle
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  more than I do the 1950s versions. But honestly,
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  all three Arthur Rubinstein Chopin Berserker
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  cycles are worth hearing. And if I had to make
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  just one choice, though... maybe I'd pick the
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  stereo cycle because you get the combination
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  of Rubinstein's innate feeling for the mazurka
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  idiom and the attention to detail I mentioned
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  earlier, but you also get the ripeness and the
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  maturity. yielded unique insights into certain
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  pieces. And as much as I like the 1930s versions
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  for their spontaneity and effervescence, you
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  do get these qualities with even more fervency
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  and bigness of conception in the mazurkas that
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  ignaz friedman recorded in 1930 he just recorded
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  a handful of mazurkas but they're absolutely
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  amazing but that's not to say that rubinstein
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  in the 1930s in the mazurkas was an inferior
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  product far far far from that one of these days
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  by the way i want to take each and every mazurka
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  from Rubinstein's three cycles and make careful
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  comparisons between the three different performances
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  of the same mazurka from each cycle. But, you
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  know, I've been saying that for the last 50 years.
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  And, you know, if my radio show Between the Keys
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  was on five days a week, I might consider doing
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  such a comparison on the air. And then I'd invite
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  a panel of listeners to join me and discuss.
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  what they hear. But I guess if you did that,
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  you would need about seven one -hour shows or
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  maybe eight one -hour long shows to include enough
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  time for music and talking. And since Between
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  the Keys is on once a week, that would occupy
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  two months worth of programs. I don't know. What
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  do you think? Do you think it's worth giving
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  two months over? Once a week, listening to and
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  comparing the three Rubinstein -Chopin -Mazurka
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  cycles. I actually posed that question to a very
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  well -known classical radio host. And when he
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  heard my idea of comparing all the Rubinstein
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  -Mazurka cycles on many shows, he said, Jed,
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  you're crazy. Don't waste your time. Rubinstein
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  isn't worth your time. Oh, I was kind of surprised
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  to hear that. Although I have to tell you that
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  I did a program where I compared 22 or so recordings
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  of the finale from Chopin's Funeral March Sonata.
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  There was also a show where we compared 15 recordings
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  of the C major prelude from Bach's well -tempered
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  Clavier Book I. I'm going off way on tangents
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  here. Anyway, we have three Arthur Rubinstein
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  Chopin mazurka cycles. All of them are worth
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  hearing. My first choice is the stereo one from
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  the 60s. My second choice, the version on 78s.
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  Or maybe that's my third choice, and my second
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  choice is the mono LP version from the mid -50s.
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  I really shouldn't be so indecisive. But there
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  are links to all three cycles in the show notes,
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  and you can listen and compare for yourself.
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  All I'm asking you to do is enjoy. Arthur Rubinstein's
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  Chopin Mazurkas. They are very, very enjoyable.
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  This is Jed Disler, and you've been listening
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  to the Piano Maven podcast. And please spread
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  the good word about this program, and I will
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  be with you next time. Happy listening.