Ballades and Scherzos, Arthur Rubinstein

Chopin, Frédéric

album cover

Secrets Come Spilling from the Piano

Many musicians have a central composer who serves as a "home base," the lens through which they see all the others. For pianist Arthur Rubinstein, this was Frédéric Chopin. The Polish-French composer wrote volumes of music for the piano, some of it rococo and grand, and some graced with a pensive, inward-looking character—a private musing. With Chopin (1810–1849), there's often music waiting behind the music, and when played with the Polish-born Rubinstein's innate sensitivity, his works seem to spill secrets from the piano.

Usually in art, a "ballad" refers to a storylike narrative. Not in Chopin. These pieces have no greater sense of narrative than any number of other Chopin works in various forms. They're tightly written, and although they hew to an ABA-type structure, they seem predominantly lyrical, more preoccupied with expansive melody than carefully observed form. Reaching the conclusion of the fourth Ballade, listeners often marvel at the vast distances Chopin journeyed in one ten-minute piece.

Rubinstein (1887–1982) approaches the Ballades as excuses to play rhapsodically. Though blessed with great technique, his hallmark was his musical personality—his warm touch, and an enviable ability to slide ever so slightly away from standard practice. When Chopin repeats an idea for cumulative effect, Rubinstein never phrases it the same way—it's like he's viewing the same idea from a different angle. He's a master of shading, and at times on the third and fourth Ballades, it seems he's delivering each melodic unit at its own tempo, gently pulling back from the pulse to wring every drop of meaning from the line.

A titan of twentieth-century piano, Rubinstein recorded Chopin constantly throughout his career, often revisiting the same pieces several times. Early recordings, made during the 78-RPM era, have a rollicking and at times headstrong aspect; later ones are steadier. Rubinstein once claimed that some of his best performances happened late in his career, and this disc, recorded during his third go-around with Chopin in the early days of stereo, is rich with that accumulated wisdom.

Genre: Classical
Released: 1959, RCA
Key Tracks: Ballades Nos. 1 and 4. Scherzos Nos. 2 and 3.
Another Interpretation: Vladimir Horowitz: Horowitz Plays Chopin Ballades, Nocturnes, Preludes
Catalog Choice: Nineteen Nocturnes (Vol. 49 of the Rubinstein Collection)
Next Stop: W.A. Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 and 21, Mitsuko Uchida
After That: Claude Debussy: Preludes for Piano, Books 1 and 2, Paul Jacobs
Book Pages: 166–167