Piano Concerto No. 4 in D minor (Rubinstein)

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The Piano Concerto No. 4 in D minor, op. 70 by Anton Rubinstein is a Romantic concerto that was once highly esteemed and was in the repertoire of the Russian and Polish piano virtuosos Sergei Rachmaninoff and Jan Paderewski.

Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894), himself a renowned pianist, left five piano concertos. (He wrote three earlier piano concertos; two were lost and the third was transformed into Octet, Op. 9.) Rubinstein composed the current concerto in 1864. He published two revisions of it and then a final revision in 1872. He dedicated the concerto to the violinist Ferdinand David.

The concerto is in the traditional three movements:

  • The first movement, marked Moderato assai, is in sonata form and has a solo piano cadenza inserted at the end.
  • The second movement, marked Andante, is quintessentially romantic with lush lyrical melodies surrounding an agitated middle section.
  • The third movement, marked Allegro, is dance-like and reminiscent of a cracovienne (Krakowiak), a dance from the region of Krakow. The concerto concludes with a fiery coda.

[edit] Selected discography

  • Xaver Scharwenka's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor and Anton Rubinstein's Piano Concerto No. 4 in D minor performed by Marc-André Hamelin with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Stern (Hyperion 67508)

[edit] Source

  • Program notes by Jeremy Nicholas to Marc-André Hamelin's recording of this concerto (Hyperion 67508)
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