Rubinstein Complete Violin Sonatas

[Alan Howe]

...from Brilliant Classics:
http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Complete-Music-For-Violin-And-Piano/hnum/3790049

[Balapoel]

What pieces does this contain? I can't imagine Rubinstein at his most verbose filling 3 cds with 3 violin sonatas. And there are only a few other violin and pf pieces in his oeuvre.
Violin Sonata No. 1 in G, op 13 (34 minutes)
Violin Sonata No. 2 in a minor, op 19
Violin Sonata No. 3 in b minor, op 98
3 pieces for vn, pf, op 11a
Grand duo on motifs from Meyerbeer (1849)

[eschiss1]

well, also a Romance arranged from the Soirées Op.44 and it seems independently played,
the 12 Russian folksongs Op.78 I  gather are also for violin and piano
and I'm guessing that the violin concerto and perhaps cello sonatas may exist in arrangements that may end up being included (who knows...- bit of a waste)- and there's always the possibility of some not yet published mss. (maybe mentioned in books on Rubinstein- haven't checked).

[Alan Howe]

More details here:
http://www.brilliantclassics.com/release.aspx?id=FM00085627
Download here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rubinstein-Daniela-Cammarano-Alessandro-Deljavan/dp/B00GZBGKN4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386004804&sr=8-1&keywords=rubinstein+cammarano

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks, Alan.

[Mark Thomas]

...but unfortunately not available until 17 January.

[Alan Howe]

Quite so. But the audio excerpts are enticing, I think...

[Alan Howe]

Well, the audio excerpts are actually more enticing than the experience of listening to the pieces as a whole. This is Rubinstein - unfortunately - at his most undisciplined. For example, Sonata No.3 runs to over 54 minutes - and it simply collapses under the weight of its own pretensions. As always with this composer there are many incidental felicities, but one just has little sense of any overall design - it seems like a series of very looooong episodes.
Give me Raff any day in this type of repertoire. Or Draeseke. Or Gernsheim. Or just about anyone who can discipline him/herself properly. A violin sonata of this length requires a genius. Rubinstein was a long way from that, sadly. A very long way.
Avoid this set unless you have extraordinary patience. Any redeeming features? Cheapness. And it's pretty well performed. But this music assuredly belongs in the category of 'deservedly unsung'.

[Gareth Vaughan]

It is such a pity that Rubinstein so often outstays his welcome. As you say, Alan, there are frequent felicities and a few gorgeous moments in many (if not most) of his works but he just doesn't have the discipline to know when to stop. "Less is more" would have been a good maxim for Anton to have embraced.

[John 514tga]

Alan, do your homework!  Imagine if we judged Raff''s Piano Quintet based on the sleepy MDG recording alone.

So far, three pairs of musicians have recorded all three of Ruby's violin sonatas:  Robert Murray and Daniel Graham for MHS, Carlo Lazari and Stefano Gibellato for Nuova Era/Tizano, and now Daniela Cammarano and Alessandro Deljavan for Brilliant.  I'm not a believer in stop-watch criticism -- in fact, I loathe it -- but a little use of the stop-watch will tell us wonders here.

                                   
                        Murray & Graham     Lazari & Gibellato     Cammarano & Deljavan

Sonata 1
                         7:51                         10:26                        14:33
                         8:12                           9:01                        13:12
                         4:37                           6:32                          7:12
                         7:54                           9:38                         11:09

Total:              28:34                          35:37                        46:06
-----

Sonata 2
                         9:02                          12:28                        12:44
                         4:48                            5:58                          7:00
                         8:49                          10:16                        14:12
                         7:58                            9:48                        11:50

Total:              30:46                          33:27                        45:46
-----

Sonata 3
                       13:01                          19:50                        20:08
                         5:13                            7:00                          8:29
                         8:35                            9:29                        12:35
                         8:52                            9:50                        13:10

Total               35:41                           46:09                       54:22
-----


It takes Cammarano & Deljavan more than 17 minutes longer than Murray & Graham to get through the First Sonata, 15 minutes longer to get through the second, and 19 minutes longer to get through the third!  In each case, Murray & Graham save you just about enough time to hear the entire Schumann First Sonata!  This is amazing.  This isn't just a few minutes over the course of a work.  This is enough time for entire movements, even entire multi-movement works.  Look at the first movement of the first sonata.  Cammarano & Deljavan are playing at half the speed of Murray & Graham.  Even  Lazari & Gibellato, who I first took to be a bit leisurely, are speed demons compared to Cammarano & Deljavan: 11 minutes faster in the First, 12 minutes faster in the Second, and 9 minutes faster in the Third -- each difference the length of an entire movement.

Rubinstein's violin sonatas are among his best works, but don't form you opinion based on these dead-in-the-water performances.
               
   

[Alan Howe]

Point taken, although Raff's Piano Quintet (a true masterpiece) easily survives the sleepy performance on MDG. In fact I first heard that work in precisely that recording and I was convinced all along about its stature as a work. Masterpieces can survive just about anything.
By contrast Rubinstein's inferior pieces just fall apart in the BC recordings. That tells you everything. (For comparison purposes I have Feyghin/Poltoratsky in No.2 which is much better played [Feyghin was one of the Russian greats], but I doubt whether his 3rd movement is really a true Adagio non troppo, whereas Cammarano/Deljavan attempt something much more daring and subtle there - but the music's just not up to it).
Incidentally, are there any textual issues involved here? (Just making sure I've done my homework  )

[eschiss1]

Re: "Masterpieces can survive just about anything", Alan Walker raises just this point in the 2nd volume of his Liszt biography, and it's an interesting one- but too tangential for this topic, I'd agree in advance...

[Alan Howe]

I've now ordered the Murray/Graham performances hoping for an epiphany. Watch this space...

[Gareth Vaughan]

Very instructive, John. Thank you.

[Balapoel]

Maybe the differences relate to exposition repeats (or not)? Is the Murray recording only available as an LP? (that's all I could find). The Lazari is available on two CDs, but on Amazon I could only find pricey 3rd party sellers...

In general, I prefer energetic over lethargic interpretations (many of us remember Gould's veeeeerrrryyy slow Brahms...).