Archived from
Rachmaninoff, Sergei. Piano Concerto No. 2 in C-Minor, Op. 18.
Artur Rubinstein, Pianist.
The Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy,
Conductor.
RCA Victor Red Seal 09026-630602
(Digitally Remastered Stereo)*
RCA
Victor Red Seal ARD1-0031 (QuadraDisc/LP). Recorded 24 November 1971
at the Academy of Music, Philadelphia.
Released
1973.
* - Volume 60 of RCA Red Seal's
Artur Rubinstein collection
Unlike Artur Rubinstein's famous 1956 recording of Rachmaninoff's Second Concerto with Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony (Available on RCA Red Seal RCD1-4934 [USA], 61851-2 [USA] and RD8-4934 [Europe]), this lesser-known quadraphonic LP recording with Ormandy and the Philadelphia has captured my heart in a way no other recording of the Second has been able to.
In 1971, Artur Rubinstein was already in his 80s, and this disc clearly evinces that fact. His timing has slowed down a fraction and he even misses a couple of notes. However, what Rubinstein lacks in speed, he more than makes up in profundity and emotion.
When I received this late addition to my record library, I shelved it with the other dozen or so other versions I have of the Second. Although I am a die-hard Rachmaninoff fan, I must confess that the Second is my least favourite of the five works he wrote for piano and orchestra. I much prefer the Third Concerto. You Rachmaninoff fans out there, admit it: You, too, have heard the Second so many times, that when you play it, you hear, but you're certainly not listening to it. Despite any love you may have had for it, the Second does not demand your attention the same way that his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini or the Fourth Concerto do. Sure, it's a comforting piece, but we "true" afficianados tend to take it for granted.
At least, I did; I've been living with it since I was four years old, and my mind tends to jump ahead of the music as I'm listening to it, thinking "I know what's going to happen next......."
Yet, when I pulled Rubinstein's 1973 recording
off the shelf, blew the dust off my turntable dust cover, and dropped
the
needle down on the grooves, from the opening chords on the solo piano
to 
the
close of the brilliant, sunlit finale, it was as though I was hearing
Rachmaninoff's
Second Concerto for the very first time.
Though Rubinstein, because of old age and arthritis-wracked hands, played slowly, he certainly did not play with a heavy hand. Quite the opposite; here his touch is as light as ever. Whereas before, I would marvel at Rubinstein's ability to gracefully and flawlessly execute the concerto in the 1956 recording, in this version, I heard a Rubinstein that is almost absent before his final performances. Here, I listened intently, and I heard the old master endow each note - so clearly and distinctly played - with a sense of beauty, warmth and an honest love for the music itself. Through Rubinstein's mind and hands, something very unique has been wrought.
Accompanying Rubinstein is Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, both of whom Rachmaninoff himself chose to accompany him on his own recordings of his works and to whom he dedicated his final masterpiece, Symphonic Dances, Op. 45.
Yet, "accompany" does not quite do justice to Ormandy's contribution to this recording, for the word suggests passivity. As with so many other recordings Ormandy made with the great soloists of his time, the Philadelphia under his baton comes across sympathetically. Often, a conductor will sound as though he is "competing" with the soloist, either by beating too quick a tempo, making the soloist have to "keep up," or by overpowering the performer with sheer volume. What Ormandy and the Philadelphia do is provide a sumptuous orchestral accompianment to Rubinstein's equally sonorous playing, giving the soloist plenty of room to subtly change tempo or dynamics.
But Ormandy does not take a backseat to Rubinstein either, for the strings provide a warm harmony over which the pianist can weave his medlodic themes. The winds are demure at times, thoughtful at others, but always appropos. The percussion is crisp and forceful, and the brass is equally dramatic.
Together, Artur Rubinstein, Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra weave a beautiful tapestry of sound that will make you hear each phrase and nuance discretely, yet will allow you to soak in the whole work as a seamlessly unified whole. The actual recording, engineered by Paul Goodman, has a very natural, unobtrusive, full sound (I was listening to it through a stereo Ortofon cartridge on ADS speakers).
Fortunately, this splendid version of Rachmaninoff's Second Concerto has been re-released as Volume 60 of the Artur Rubinstein Collection by RCA Red Seal (b/w Grieg: Piano Concerto, Op. 16. RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, Alfred Wallenstein, conductor [1961]). This is a recording which more than deserves a hearing from a new generation of classical music lovers.
