1.Ravel - Valses nobes et sentimentales
2.Poulenc - Mouvements perpétuels   
	2a 	Assez Modere
2b 	Très Modéré
2c 	Alerte
3. Poulenc - Intermezzo in A-flat (1944)
4.Ravel - La vallée des cloches
5.Fauré - Nocturne in A-flat, Op.33, Nº3
6.Poulenc - Intermezzo Nº2 in D-flat
7.Chabrier - Scherzo-Valse

Arthur Rubinstein – piano

French piano music is doing well this month, and this admirably recorded Rubinstein disc is the more welcome for including some lesser known pieces. Chabrier and Poulenc in particular don't get recorded these days nearly as often as they deserve. I notice that not even Poulenc's Mouvements perpituels are in the catalogue at the moment, which is odd, since not so long ago every pianist seemed to be playing them. The two Poulenc Intermezzi Rubinstein plays are welcome additions too. Chabrier on the other hand now makes a strong showing since all his piano works have been recorded for Vox by Rena Kyriakou, but none of these is available outside the format of a three-disc set; and that goes for Faurè's Nocturnes as well, to which only Evelyne Crochet has been giving any attention lately.

There is nothing to temper enthusiasm for this record (except surprise that no stereo version of it has been announced). Rubinstein is at his best and is a superb exponent of French music, which indeed he has been known to champion even to the extent of playing the Ravel Valses nobles et sentiment-ales as his first encore when the same piece failed to get much response in the main part of one of his public recitals. ---arkivmusic.com

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The Nocturnes
A1 	No. 1 In B-Flat Minor Op. 9 	5:23
A2 	No. 2 In E-Flat Op. 9 	4:22
A3 	No. 3 In B Op. 9 	6:45
A4 	No. 1 In F Op. 15 	4:16
A5 	No. 2 In F-Sharp Op. 15 	3:53
B1 	No. 3 In G Minor Op. 15 	4:59
B2 	No. 1 In C-Sharp Minor Op. 27 	5:35
B3 	No. 2 In D-Flat Op. 27 	6:10
B4 	No. 1 In B Op. 32 	4:37
B5 	No 2. In A-Flat Op. 32 	5:44
C1 	No. 1 In G-Minor Op. 37 	6:16
C2 	No. 2 In G Op. 37 	6:52
C3 	No. 1 In C Minor Op. 48 	5:50
C4 	No. 2 In F-Sharp Minor Op. 48 	7:16
D1 	No. 1 In F Minor Op. 55 	5:37
D2 	No. 2 In E-Flat Op. 55 	6:32
D3 	No. 1 In B Op. 62 	6:47
D4 	No. 2 In E Op. 62 	5:16
D5 	No. 1 In E Minor (Posth.) Op. 72 	4:40

The Waltzes
E1 	In E-Flat ("Grande valse brillante") Op. 18 	5:22
E2 	No. 1 In A-Flat ("Valse brillante") Op. 34 	5:02
E3 	No. 2 In A Minor ("Valse brillante") Op. 34 	5:11
E4 	No. 3 In F ("Valse brillante") Op. 34 	2:21
E5 	In A-Flat (The "Two-Four" Waltz) Op. 42 	3:45
E6 	No. 1 In D-Flat ("Minute" Waltz) Op. 64 	1:49
F1 	No. 2 In C-Sharp Minor Op. 64 	3:40
F2 	No. 3 In A-Flat Op. 64 	3:19
F3 	No. 1 In A-Flat ("L'Adieu")(Posth.) Op. 69 	3:26
F4 	No. 2 In B Minor (Posth.) Op. 69 	3:49
F5 	No. 1 In G-Flat (Posth.) Op. 70 	1:49
F6 	No. 2 In F Minor (Posth.) Op. 70 	3:25
F7 	No. 3 In D-Flat (Posth.) Op. 70 	2:47
F8 	In E Minor (Posth.) 	3:04

Arthur Rubinstein - piano

I can't believe the sound quality from about 30 yrs ago can be this crystal! When I listen to it I am stunned by the work that all the people did on this CD. Especially, Artur's beautiful playing will make you smile then. I said to myself 'why can't others do this!! why!!'. It's the best version of Chopin The Nocturnes I have ever hear on sound quality and playing, compares to the other two version with unnamed players. ---L. Zhao, amazon.com

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Sonata No. 14 In C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 2 ("Moonlight")
1 	1. Adagio Sostenuto 	6:13
2 	2. Allegretto 	2:40
3 	3. Presto Agitato 	6:45
Sonata No. 26 In E-Flat, Op. 81a ("Les Adieux") 
4 	1. Adagio, Allegro 	7:42
5 	2. Andante Espressiva 	3:24
6 	3. Vivacissimamente 	5:40
Sonata No. 8 In C-Minor, Op. 13 ("Pathétique") 
7 	1. Allegro Di Molto E Con Brio 	8:49
8 	2. Adagio Cantabile 	5:41
9 	3. Rondo: Allegro 	4:49
Sonata No. 23 In F Minor, Op. 57 "Appassionata" 
10 	1. Allegro Assai 	9:29
11 	2. Andante Con Moto 	6:32
12 	3. Allegro Ma Non Troppo 	7:57

Artur Rubinstein - piano

Recorded 1962 (opp. 13, 27/2, 81a), 1963 (op. 57)

While EMI, Decca and the BBC bring out their "Legends" and their "Great Recordings of the 20th Century", BMG give us a compilation of most of Rubinstein’s Beethoven sonata interpretations (he was of the generation that mostly stuck to the famous sonatas with names, though he was also a wonderful exponent of op. 31/3) in a series aimed basically at first-time classical buyers. If Rubinstein was not always considered a Beethoven interpreter par excellence, novices will encounter the music in the hands of one of the 20th Century’s great communicators; far better this than a barely competent animal going through the traditional motions. They will also find a brief note explaining "Viennese Classical Music" (sorry, "viennese classical music": who started all this nonsense about titles in small letters, and isn’t it about time it stopped? CD Booklets aren’t poems by e.e. cummings; would they were!), "beethoven’s" piano sonatas and the sonatas in question. All very listener-friendly but not reductively so. My only real niggle is that the writer seems to have expectations of more traditional interpretation than those on the record. They will also get a brief note on the pianist, and will learn that in 1916-17 he gave over 100 concerts in Spain "and became one of the most important interpreters of Spanish music". If they don’t already know that he played Chopin rather often, they won’t learn that here.

Any suspicions that Rubinstein might prove unduly avuncular in Beethoven are practically dispelled by the first chord of the "Pathétique". Also dispelled are any worries one might have about the recording. I don’t know where that close, clattery sound we always used to think part and parcel of Rubinstein’s recordings has gone, for I’ve never heard him sound so warm and rich on record, or so close to the sound I remember from the one occasion (alas!) on which I heard him live. True, the "Appassionata" from a year later is a little harder, but without the comparison I would have found little to fault in it. There will be rejoicing in heaven over this.

It could perhaps have been taken for granted that Rubinstein would be a wonderfully songful interpreter of all four slow movements, rich in sonority, detailed and natural in phrasing, alive to contrapuntal movement in the bass lines and inner parts. He is also one of the few who can really say something with the middle movement of the "Moonlight", often thrown away as a bland intermezzo.

It might also have been expected that he would take his time over the outer movements, but thanks to the fullness of his tone (every note on the CD tells) and the clarity of his left-hand work (you will hear whole passages in all finales in which he prefers crystalline detail where others give us a blur of pedal), the true Beethovenian drive is emphatically present. As a result of not rushing his fences in the "Appassionata" finale, the presto, when it arrives, is overwhelming. He also uncovers much detail in the first movements. Who else has made the exchanges between the lower and upper registers (right-hand crossing over left) in the second subject of op. 13 speak like this? You can imagine an operatic duet between soprano and baritone. Only in the first movement of "Les Adieux" did I feel that perhaps he was taking things a little comfortably, though with much insightful phrasing.

If Rubinstein still seems a not entirely orthodox Beethoven interpreter, it is because he remained a romantic artist dedicated to telling a story rather than expounding a structure. This may not necessarily be wrong, but our Beethovenian clocks were set by Schnabel in the 1930s and basically our expectations have remained in line with this ever since. Rubinstein learnt his Beethoven before the Schnabel revolution. However, while even the most highly-esteemed pre-Schnabel interpreters sound odd to present-day ears, Rubinstein was not only an intuitive and a romantic pianist, he was also a highly intelligent one with a great respect for the printed score.

So, to get back to my first point, first–timers will encounter this music in richly communicative performances. But I hope circulation of this disc will not stop there. Anyone with a fair stock of "conventional" Beethoven, not to speak of collectors of "Legends" who did not buy these as part of the Rubinstein edition, should get them now. Beethoven speaks to all men in many ways, and there will be times when Rubinstein’s very human way will bring the music closer to you than any other. ---Christopher Howell, musicweb-international.com

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