Piano Concerto No. 4 (Rubinstein)

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 Ignacy Jan Paderewski.

Anton Rubinstein, himself a renowned pianist, left five numbered piano concertos. (He wrote three earlier piano concertos; two were lost and the third was transformed into Octet, Op. 9.) Rubinstein composed the Fourth 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.

Selected discography

Josef Hofmann's reading of this concerto is generally considered as a definite rendition.
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)

Source

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

External links

Piano Concerto No. 4: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project

Concerti by Anton Rubinstein

Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 25 Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 35 Piano Concerto No. 3 in G major, Op. 45 Piano Concerto No. 4 in D minor, Op. 70 Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 94 Violin Concerto in G major, Op. 46 Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 65 Cello Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 96

List of compositions by Anton Rubinstein