Cheap The Rubinstein Collection (Limited Edition) [Box Set] (Music) (David Soyer, Emanuel Feuermann, Gregor Piatigorsky, Pierre Fournier, Isaac Albeniz, Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Ferruccio Busoni, Emmanuel Chabrier) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Rubinstein Collection (Limited Edition) [Box Set]

This Is No Lesson in Economics...
It is a natural tendency when reviewing items in this price-point to contemplate cost-effectiveness first and foremost. Considering that CDs have no nutritional value and cannot keep kids off crack, I am uncomfortable recognizing, much less crossing, some line in the sand where space ordinarily reserved for record-reviews must yield to amateur musings on the evils of conspicuous consumption or macroeconomic conceptions of social justice. Let's assume for the moment that this box set is free, removing from our purview the materialistic thrill or global economic blight one might seek and/or wish to stave off in purchasing it. <
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>Rubinstein's "official" recorded output is astounding. It spans 5 decades, and encompasses significant forays into the oeuvre of dozens of composers. Though technique is generally expected to decline with age, few pianists live to be 96 years old. Rubinstein the pianist and Rubinstein the musician reached their highest collective summit when Rubinstein the man was well into his 60s. The "late-bloomer" aspect of his career places a considerable quorum of his most polished recordings squarely within the stereo era. Some of this material had made its way onto CD prior to this release, most notably his Chopin. Unfortunately, Rubinstein's well-deserved public acclaim as Chopin's supreme torchbearer unjustly limits his reputation along "expresio unius est exclusio alterius" lines. For example, though Rubinstein chose to record only a small handful of Beethoven sonatas, it is doubtful that one might hear them better played, even by his Beethoven specialist contemporaries Schnabel and Kempff. Rubinstein also ardently championed French and Spanish music, and is said to have loved performing Brahms most of all. This release places many of his most accomplished recordings before the ears of the listening public for the first time since their original release on vinyl. <
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>I am frequently intoxicated by the earliest recordings from the 30s and 40s. Some of them, like his first traversal of the Chopin scherzi, are bite-your-nails-til-they-bleed thrilling. On the other hand, the initial limitations of the recording process required this (and every) pianist to make bothersome compromises with respect to tempi and dynamics at times. Ultimately, it comes down to personal taste. I am more consistently drawn to Rubinstein the wise-master than Rubinstein the young Turk. <
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>RCA invested undisclosed sums of time and money into restoring, remixing, and remastering all of the recordings for this release. Some of the earlier recordings have been available on CD for quite some time (e.g. Chopin's Op. 28 Preludes, the Ormandy/Philadelphia Grieg concerto). Despite the intervention of acoustical restorationist-par-excellence Ward Marston, the remastering undertaken in the course of this project has not dramatically improved the sound on these releases. Short of traveling several decades into the past and placing more sensitive microphones in more strategic locations, there was probably little else that could have been done. Marston's brilliance is far more obvious in restoring to near original luster many deteriorating tape recordings from the late 40s and early 50s. The stereo recordings also sound fuller. <
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>I am pleased with my purchase because having access (and, most importantly, having listened to) all of these recordings is a moving experience. It allows me to contemplate this extraordinary artist as a man, whose performance is inevitably colored by the accumulation of experience, the expanding flexibility of the recording process, the onset of maturity, and (perhaps sadly) declining physical powers. There are multiple recordings of most pieces in this collection, but I rarely find it difficult to cull a favorite among them. At this point, I play some of the records frequently, and others rarely. If your aim is to hear Rubinstein at his best, this set provides the resources you need to make what are at turns obvious, and others hopelessly personal choices. This set includes detailed (and mostly newly written) liner notes for each record as a well as an engaging hardcover book providing no fewer than 3 complete indices to the recordings (by date of recording, Composer, and Volume number). The box itself is a work of art, looks stunning on a shelf, and never requires polishing. Most of the 81 volumes are sold separately, and have been made available for download on the Apple Music Store. <
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>While I will not claim that Rubinstein's interpretations are equally effective, I cannot think of any other pianist, now living or forever deceased, who could approach such a broad repertoire with the unwaivering technical finesse and prophetic musicianship evident in the bulk of his recorded output. If you never see the likes of a "Rubinstein Collection" on the shelf again, do not dismiss it as another textbook illustration of price elasticity. To do so is to dwell on on the vagaries of consumerism when the more important issue is that the next Rubinstein may never be. <
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CLASSICAL MUSIC AT ITS MOST EXPENSIVE (AND BEST)
You have two choices: Starve the kids or skip the mortgage payments for a month or two. How else can you afford this 94 (!) disc set that captures every studio recording the classical icon ever recorded. Trust us: The kids are fat enough.