prophet’ was inimitable in poetic refinement: to describe the diminuendo of the
pianissimo at the end of the “fluttering away of the little bird” would be hopelessly
inadequate. Inimitable, too, was the soul-stirring imagery in the ‘Kreisleriana’, the last
(G minor) passage of which I have never heard anyone play in the same manner. One of
Rubinstein’s greatest secrets was his use of the pedal. He himself very happily expressed
his ideas on the subject when he said, “The pedal is the soul of the piano.” No pianist
should ever forget this.’
Rachmaninoff’s biographer Barrie Martyn suggests that it might not have been by chance
that the two pieces Rachmaninoff singled out for praise from Rubinstein’s concerts –
Beethoven’s ‘Appassionata’ Sonata and Chopin’s ‘Funeral March’ Sonata – both became
cornerstones of Rachmaninoff’s own recital programmes. Martyn also maintains that
Rachmaninoff may have based his interpretations of the Chopin sonata on Rubinstein’s
traversal, pointing out similarities between written accounts of Rubinstein’s version and
Rachmaninoff’s audio recording of the work.
Rachmaninoff admitted that Rubinstein was not note perfect at these concerts,
remembering a memory lapse during Balakirev’s ‘Islamey’, where Rubinstein improvised
in the style of the piece until remembering the rest of it four minutes later. In
Rubinstein’s defence, however, Rachmaninoff said that ‘for every possible mistake
[Rubinstein] may have made, he gave in return, ideas and musical tone pictures that
would have made up for a million mistakes.’
Rubinstein was a conductor and a prolific composer. He chose to exercise his
compositional talents within the German styles and Mendelssohn and Schumann were his
greatest influence. Rubinstein’s music did not demonstrate Russian nationalism and he
spoke out against it. It was felt that his establishment of a Conservatory in St Petersburg
would damage Russian musical traditions.
Following Rubinstein’s death his works began to be ignored although his piano concertos
remained in the repertoire in Europe until the First World War, and his main works have
retained a toehold in the Russian concert repertoire. Perhaps somewhat lacking in
individuality, Rubinstein’s music has been unable to compete with the established
classics or with the new Russian style of Stravinsky and Prokofiev.
Over recent years, his work has been performed a little more often both in Russia and
abroad and has met with a positive reception. Among his better known works are the
opera ‘The Demon’, his piano concerto no. 4 and his symphony no. 2 known as ‘The
Ocean’. His ‘Melody in F’ for piano was extremely popular for many years.
An Edison wax cylinder recording made in about 1890 was discovered in the Pushkin
House in St Petersburg in 1997. It was put onto CD, together with some then recently
recorded Tchaikovsky piano concertos. Present at the gathering in about 1890 were:
Anton Rubinstein; Elisabeth Lavrovskaya, contralto; Tchaikovsky; Vasily Safonov,
Director of Moscow Conservatory; Alexander Hubert, pianist, professor at Moscow
University; Yuli Blok, host for the gathering and owner of the Edison phonograph.