Rubinstein Collection, Beethoven piano concertos nos. 3&4
These concerti were recorded when Rubinstein was 88 years old. It was the third time he had recorded all of Beethoven's piano concerti as a cycle (the other two were in 1956 and 1967), and, indeed, elsewhere in his career, he recorded the last two concerti a time or two more. Rubinstein is not known as a Beethoven interpreter, but it's hard to tell why not. Here, his playing is lucid and big-boned (yes, even at 88), and he gets through the third movement of the third concerto--the acid test--with flying colors.  The second movement is handsomely lyrical when called for, as well. His Beethoven playing is always noble--perhaps that's what some objected to (many prefer hell-bent to noble, especially in the late concerti)--but he rarely misses a dramatic point. He holds back nicely at times, bending the rhythms suitably (plenty of this in the middle movement of the fourth). Daniel Barenboim proves to be a fine conductor (he had just begun to conduct), and the sound is far better than on the original LPs, which nobody liked because the orchestra-piano balance was way off. In short, these are splendid readings.--Robert Levine