The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1921-03-10
'L|SzT PRAISED AS
PIANIST SUPREME
Others "AIl shoppers" As.
sertion of Won BueIow, Re-
called by N. Y. Critic.

ncver heard Liszt, I never heard
Chopin; but the List legend endures
in the memory OF his pupils, and OF
the playing OF Chopin j had an ac-
curate account from one OF his pupils.
the late Georges Matthias. OF Paris.
According to this venerable artist, the
performances Of the Pole bordered on
the magical. Not alone his then novel
technique, but the spiritual personal
ity of the man Impressed his listeners.
When NJ. Matthias heard him In the
middle forties Chopin was dying
man. He lacked power. His tone
hardly approached a healthy forte,
but as everything in art as in life Is
relative. Chopin contrived contrasts
by a cunning adjustment OF dynamics.
lis pianissimo was an ethereal whis-
Der. thus his forte fell into correct
pcrspective; all manners OF subtle
onal gradustions produced the effect
( variegated palette.
Chopin knew all the colors and he
iso knew the art OF mixing them.
lis analogies to Shelley are indisput-
BILE. He is the violet ray in pianism.
But Anton Rubinstein ] did hear,
I'D in his seven historical recitsls.
lie was unapproachable. ] have been
told by those who sat under Liszt
that Rubinstein had the richer touch.
but there again the age question IN
tervenes. The young men or the
seventies and eighties who were
pupils of the Weimar master had not
heard him in his maturity when, ac-
cording to contemporary criticism. he
was matchless. Three such witnesses
as Hans Won Buelow, Karl Tansig,
and Anton Rubinstein bowed down to
him as 10 a god
I'VE are all woodchoppers COM
pared with List" asserted Won Due-
low, and no one ever accused the
irascible Hans OF modesty. Rubin
stein in his recollections confessed
the same, and Tausig. the master
,technician, described the playing OF
I.iszt as both his delight and despair.
These judgments are set down in
black or white; we must believe them
as sincere.
For my part. ! own that no pianist
since Rubinstein has renewed the
thrill he aroused in me. and remem-
Der / wasn't a spring chicken when
heard him the second time in the late
eighties or early nineties. Naturally
in 1873 my Impressions Of his leonine
play are vague-as one recalls ire
mendous storm or earthquake et-
perIenced in boyhood. Rubinstein
wasn't merely q piano player, he was
an elemental force.
As Franz LisZt embodied In himself
all the pianists who had preceded
him and was matrix for the future
generation. so Anton Rubinstein was
the prime motor of our contemporary
artists. Virtuosity, as l have said, Is
out of fashion. Its epitaph' was writ
ten in that clever musical fiction
Maurice Guest" Finger agility
EQUALS softening OF the brain Nu-
ance Is our shibboleth; nuance rather
than sorority. Since Chopin no one
has discovered new piano timbres.
with tho solitary exception OF De-
busy. Structurally considered. Chopin
is a classic: Debussy in his disregard
of essential lines OF force Us an i'm
or. if you will. a sym
bolist Nevertheless, all Is i'm the in
evltable key of evolution: from the
simnle cell structure to the complete
Observation-Disclosures. in the New York
World.