# Do you like the music of Anton Rubinstein?



## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

Yes or no answer I realise that but I have discovered a real gem in Rubinstein. A true underrated genius. This symphony is a joy to listen to with some wonderful melodies. If you like this then try the 4th symphony, that is something special.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Not very memorable to me.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

I certainly do like much of it. He wrote a set of works for piano, Kamenniy-Ostrov, op 10 and No. 22 (Reve Angelique) is one of my favorite tunes in all of music. Here's the power of music: when I was just a little kid I loved old B/w horror movies. There was one with Boris Karloff, _The Walking Dead_, where he was a pianist and that was the music he played repeatedly. When I got my piano fingers up to snuff, I plunked out the tune to my teacher who instantly recognized it and I learned it - and played it very badly. Still love that tune. Rubinstein's famous Melody in F is also a favorite to play - much, much harder than it sounds.

When Marco Polo started up over 35 years ago or so, they issued a vast amount of Rubinstein. I collected every bit of it. The symphonies: it's not hard to hear why they never got a foothold in the repertoire. The orchestration is pretty dull (let's be honest) and the melodic invention isn't all that hot. Nonetheless, they're worth a hearing if only to put the really great works written at the same time in perspective. I have had the great fortune of hearing a live performance of No. 2, The Ocean - mercifully in its original 4-movement form. Also the ballet music from The Feramors.

The piano concertos are a different matter. The 4th and 5th used to be quite popular until somewhere around mid-20th C. When you realize how few piano concertos from the last half of the 19th c are in the repertoire, the absence of the Rubinstein's is hard to understand. They're thrilling, beautiful works. Audiences certainly would enjoy them, like they used to. They're hard to play, but no harder than the overplayed Tchaik concerto.

A real ear-opener for me was the opera, The Demon. It's really quite good - very well written. After that Marco Polo recording came out, it has been performed a few times. It may not be some undiscovered masterpiece, but it has some good things in it.

Rubinstein sure wrote a lot of music and I think one of the reasons it has pretty much vanished from sight is that it doesn't sound particularly Russian - none of it. Sounds too German. Soon after his death music students in Russia already used his name derisively as "Dubinstein" to insult other music they thought was poor.

There also a lot of chamber music to explore. I can imagine some of those recordings getting hard to acquire. Rubinstein is one of those composers pretty much lost to history and another reason to celebrate the recording industry and the musicians who at least allowed us to hear what he wrote.


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## vesteel (Feb 3, 2018)

The 4th Piano Concerto is very great. I consider it (along with Moszkowski 2nd) as one of the most underrated piano concertos. It was once in the repertoire of great pianists like Hofmann and Rachmaninoff, but it was neglected after the war. It was only quite recently that this concerto was frequently played again. It was played by some pianists like Marc-André Hamelin (who recorded it on Hyperion)

I haven't explored much of his orchestral works, but I heard the 2nd and 4th symphonies and they're quite good






Raymond Lewenthal talks about this concerto


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## cougarjuno (Jul 1, 2012)

I love Rubinstein's music and also was able to hear a live version of the Ocean Symphony with Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra. I've been exploring his Cello Concertos and Cello Sonatas which are quite beautiful particularly the Cello Sonata no. 1, op. 18. It's a real gem of chamber music.


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## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

His String Quartet in C minor Op 17 No 2 is divine.


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## vmartell (Feb 9, 2017)

Yes.

(  I was gonna leave like that - but, bad joke! )

Indeed - Obviously the Piano Concertos and Piano Sonatas but also the Symphonies, the Symphonic Poems. Almost an auto-buy whenever I see something by him. 

v


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## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

Very big pianist, teacher and excellent composer. I like every single work of him. The Rubinstein Piano School in Russia had big musical influence and produced many famous pianists. (he studied in Berlin and founded the Sankt Petersburg Conservatory. Many have spoken for his unparalleled dexterity in piano which was only but Liszt to compare. For me the third biggest pianist in human history with Godowsky.)


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## Dima (Oct 3, 2016)

Of course. He is one of the greatest Russian composers, but mostly unknown. I have a blog in russian about A. Rubinstein.
It's a pity but for me is diffucult to translate all texts, but something still I post on forum like an overview of 1 piano concerto: Anton Rubinstein Piano Concerto 1

If you will use google translate in chrome browser you can read my blog (there are now 2 pages): http://www.forumklassika.ru/entry.php?b=8737


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Listen to this wonderful Andante from his piano sonata #1 written at a young age:


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## Dima (Oct 3, 2016)

My interest to Anton Rubinstein's music began from mysterios slow part of the 3rd concerto:


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## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

I wish I could find more of his chamber music on Amazon, Spotify etc. Do recordings even exist? You tube has his 3rd string quartet but there are 10 overall, plus a quintet and sextet.


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## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

DaveM said:


> Listen to this wonderful Andante from his piano sonata #1 written at a young age:


Truly wonderful I agree. I managed to pick up a double CD of all 4 piano sonatas for £15 on Amazon and all of them are gems.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

beetzart said:


> I wish I could find more of his chamber music on Amazon, Spotify etc. Do recordings even exist? You tube has his 3rd string quartet but there are 10 overall, plus a quintet and sextet.


There is, or was, a lot of chamber music available, including:

Violin Sonata in F minor op. 49 (Russian Disk)
Sonatas for Violin and Piano No. 1 op. 13 in G major,No. 2 op. 19 in A minor, Sonata No. 3 in B minor op. 98(Nuova Era, Tiziano)
Trois morceaux de salon op. 11 for violin and piano (Tiziano)
Piano Trios No. 1 in F major op. 15, no. 1; No. 3 in B flat major op. 52 (Russian Disk)
String Quartets: No. 1 in G major op. 17, No. 2 in C minor op. 17 (Etcetera)
Cello Sonatas: ;No. 1in D major op. 18, No. 2 in G major op. 39 (Etcetera)
Quintet in F major for Piano and Winds (Dynamic and Russian Disk)

There is also at least one disk of songs, a tremendous amount of piano music, and of course concertos for piano, cello, violin.


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## Dima (Oct 3, 2016)

beetzart said:


> I wish I could find more of his chamber music on Amazon, Spotify etc. Do recordings even exist? You tube has his 3rd string quartet but there are 10 overall, plus a quintet and sextet.


The contemporaries of Rubinstein (including Tchaikovsky) called the 7th G-moll quartet op.90 as one of Rubinstein's masterpieces. Nobody still record it.


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## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

Dima said:


> The contemporaries of Rubinstein (including Tchaikovsky) called the 7th G-moll quartet op.90 as one of Rubinstein's masterpieces. Nobody still record it.


I'd love to hear that. I've seen the music on IMSLP and it is a shame there are no recordings. The Octet Op. 9 is a beautiful piece I have also just discovered.


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

I love some of his works such as the two piano quartets (very recommended), symphonies 1, 2, 5 and 6, and the piano concertos. The symphonies 3 and 4 are forgettable IMHO. The No. 3 is too plain, with no memorable ideas. As for the No. 4, it's too long for its material and it seems too repetitive. Even though he was an expert pianist, some of his solo piano music is just boredom.

His other chamber music will be my next exploration on his output.


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## Dima (Oct 3, 2016)

MusicSybarite said:


> The symphonies 3 and 4 are forgettable IMHO. The No. 3 is too plain, with no memorable ideas.


Try to relax and just listen to the beautiful russian melody in the second part﻿ of 3rd symphony. Here it is: https://cloud.mail.ru/public/3EzW/8z4TF9HAD


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## Dima (Oct 3, 2016)

There is one composition "Mountain Peaks" (transcribed for children choir) where all music of Rubinstein for me is concentrated and it sounds like inaccessible ideal of life.
If you listen to this divine simplicity several times (it is 2 minutes choir) you may understand me:
https://cloud.mail.ru/public/KtzS/tpgJjiELi


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## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

Dima, what do you make of Rubinstein's four piano sonatas?


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## Dima (Oct 3, 2016)

beetzart said:


> Dima, what do you make of Rubinstein's four piano sonatas?


When you ask "make" you mean "what I think" or what?


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## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

Sorry, yes what do you think of them?


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## Dima (Oct 3, 2016)

beetzart said:


> Sorry, yes what do you think of them?


As for me all music of such great musician and person as Rubinstein is interesting including piano sonatas. For example in the 2 sonata you can hear idea which Saint-Saens took to his second concerto. Here you can listen fragment from 2 concerto of Saint-Saens and then Rubinstein's 2 sonata: https://cloud.mail.ru/public/LTM6/PxVUwUK6L

But I don't think that piano sonatas were his best achievements. In my view in other chamber music he is one of the best in genre. 
His greatest achievements were in opera genre. He wrote more than 10 operas (only 2 of them are recorded and the second one was recorded only in 2018). 
But there is a language barrier and this makes difficulties for people worldwide to understand ideas of composer.


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