Anton RUBINSTEIN (1829-1894)
Le Bal (The Ball), Op. 14 (1854, rev. 1871) [81:52]
Two Pieces, Op. 30 No. 2, Allegro appassionato (1856) [5:51]
Warren Lee (piano)
rec. 2019, Wyastone Concert Hall, Monmouth, UK
NAXOS 8.574216 [87:49]
The major work on this CD is delightful from the first note to the last. It may be a little too long for its own self-preservation, but the charm and vivacity of the music and the beguiling plot of the entire work is enchanting. What is it all about? Le Bal is largely an excuse for a collection of varying dances and intermezzos. This is seen through the eyes of an eager participant at a formal ball or dance party held, say, in the Assembly Rooms in St Petersburg. The opening piece musically portrays the Impatience for the proceedings to begin: there are hints of the dances that are to follow. The listener then hears several dances including a Polonaise, a Contredanse, Mazurkas, Polkas, a Lisztian Waltz and a final Galop. The work ends in Le Rêve with a long reflection on the evening. The entire piece is redolent of Russian Romanticism.
Le Bal was published in 1855 and revised in 1871. It was dedicated to the composer’s pupil, the Princess Sophia of Nassau, the future Queen of Sweden and Norway. Her mother brought her to the Russian city of St Petersburg to introduce her to the formalities of courtly life.
Included on this disc is the second of the Two Pieces Op. 30, Allegro appassionato, composed in 1856. This is typically fervent music balanced by a tranquil middle section. It is a lovely piece that demands to be better known.
All I know about Anton Rubinstein is that he was prolific in composing music in virtually every musical genre. He was also an extremely poetical and imaginative pianist. It has been said of his compositional achievement that he was too impetuous, and that he was more successful in ideas that in their formal and technical realisation. Although he was a terrific pianist, he was apparently well-known for dropping notes. It is unfortunate that he wished to be remembered as a composer. Most of his works have slipped into oblivion, despite revivals of interest such as the several recorded cycles of his symphonies and piano works. His longest-lasting testimony may be the once ubiquitous Melody in F.
Warren Lee was a child prodigy who made his debut performance with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra at only six. He is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Yale School of Music in Connecticut. Lee has received several awards, including first prizes in the Stravinsky Awards International Piano Competition and the Grand Prix Ivo Pogorelich. He has given recitals and concerts in four continents, often playing with celebrated orchestras and soloists.
Keith Anderson’s liner notes give a decent account of Anton Rubinstein’s life and controversies, as well as a good analysis of this music. The cover picture is a remarkably appropriate painting by Dmitry Kardovsky (1866-1943) entitled Ball at the Assembly Hall of the Nobility in St Petersburg on 23 February 1913. This old order had little time left for these great aristocratic events.
The playing is stunning and imaginative. Warren Lee gives a performance which sparkles in the lively numbers and is suitably thoughtful in the quieter and more reflective moments. The liner notes refer to Rubinstein’s “miniature drama”: 82 minutes to me is hardly diminutive! It is a long work that would make a sumptuous ballet. I am not sure just how successful this would be in the recital room. I would baulk at playing excerpts of Le Bal because the entire piece forms what we would have called in the 1960s a concept album. That said, if I am honest, I did not listen to this at a single sitting, but over two or three sessions…
John France
