Happy Friday Music! This week we shall be watching a less well known Piano Concerto. Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) was a superb pianist and organist as well as an outstanding composer. He wrote his Second Piano Concerto in G minor (Op.22) in just three weeks (in 1868) and premièred it himself. (Anton Rubinstein conducted on this occasion, but he is no relation to the soloist we are concerned with this week.) This three movement work is constructed slightly different to most concertos, in that the tempi are a moderate speed – fast – very fast. The second movement has some very jolly sections, whilst the final movement is much more energetic and fiery. Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982) was born in Russia, but the city is now part of Poland. He made his first recording in 1910. As recording technology improved, so he would re-record some of his repertoire. His repertoire was vast and his playing was unrivalled, performing in public for well over seventy years! He gained many Awards for his solo, concerto and chamber music recordings. He was fluent in eight languages. At the end of the video he looks like he has gone for a walk in a park rather than played a very demanding piece of music. Amazing! André Previn (1929 - ) conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in this 1975 recording. We shall see much more of him next week!
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 09:09:50 +0000
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