Artur Rubinstein

Artur Rubinstein America’s most glamorous piano virtuoso is a Pole, an epicurean and a wit who lives in Hollywood and commutes between hemispheres by Winthrop Sargeant r I VIE death of lgiu.c but Paderewski seven years ago left in the mind is not, of couixr, wlutl primarily cndotirs him to thousands <»f American I of die uwragt- American .1 terrifying donbt somewhat similar io dial Eo iiute. Th«’ afc interested m the magnificent sounds he draws from -*- created by tin1 ritir« »u m ufGenrJutincy from the prize ring. It was nstriuncut. Hw-y admire him not so much for any single technical »upc- no lunger possible to tell with certainty who was the world's champion rinrity ,ir lor a rAirnbinaiion nf qualities rarely found together in contrm- pianist. It had hern muuy year«, id course, since th. long-haired, courtly pnniry piuiihm. Lkv Homwitz. he can overwhelm an audiunce with the Pole had shown even a trace of the old virtuosity that had made hi? name mere physical cxciteim-nt induced by c.vtraor«htuu v speed, power and imirk»- ar familiar throughout the I ;.S. ;te those of Houdini and Buffalo Bill. Thera manship. LJitliku llur«>witz, he in a muster of stylistic differentiation and van were even, in morn critical muiieal circles, people who had doubted his ab swing from llm land !irilluin<>* of Li*tft and the insinuating seuliiuent of solute pre-eminence among pianist* •>( the day. Josef Hofmann and the lata Chopin tn the soIhv profundities -f Bccthovcu. giving each type of inuric S'rgei Kachmonuioii were both pnidigiou* virtuoso» who could equal many its own particulnr flavor. He « an. when Im is in themood, weave something of his feats and surpass 6onic: the late Moriz Rusmlhal had a far mare of Paderewski's magic spoil, enthralling his public with the sheer .*cn-u.d «cintilluting technique. But there w;i- ronwthing about Paderewski tliat rfTn l «if iridi-'iTiit and luMulifully modubtted tone. 'ymbinir.il the common man’s dream «1 wlial a great concert artist should ’Hicfc qualities, both pianisti« and personal, have during th. past. I(> Be, He wns not only a great pianist. 11» traveled in a private Pullman with a vesra given 59-ycar-old Ruhiniiiein ¡uni'.rrndancy over his rivals that inuk.-s iftimm of servants. He was a superb show man, 11 gourmet. a man of th. hi» jxiritian unique. Ik averages somrthing 1:1 the nrighLcrhfiid of ISO world, a confidant of prtnurs, a diplomat mid a premier of Poland. When ixim rrts a rear and earn« a minimum of $3,5<)l) a concert. Hi- Victor re “Paderbosky" sat down aristcicratieally Leforc bi« Steinway his public felt cording» <.f the Tchaikovsky 1J Flat Minor and Grieg A Minor concertos that it was witnrsxingn rite rather than a ri-rilnl, n noble tradition rather have»old in ihchundreds of thousands and helped «rcstc the national furor than j professional craft, a heroic and civilizing speetur.le rather than just fur th»--.- works that lias ixIioihI in the popular records of jazz bands and another evening of piano playing. in Bi uadwHV musicals. Thu total gross sulci of his records run to well ovt 1.» Today favlilons in jiwtit'-te hive ihmiped. Simv virtumm... like dogs, have million dollars annually. In Hollywood his fees for odd jobs of dubbing, in a tendency to reKcrnble their masters, the arwtecrut of the keyboard who variou* muncuJ movies, have become the talk of the town. On one job with was the ward of princes hn* given place 1« the burinra-riike virtuoso who u I’toduwrljniik Barrage (the picture. /‘r<- Ahmyt Tun) he denuindt- l th. ward of hank presidents and concert corporation», The big names of the» and got $85,000 for three day» of off screen recording, playing JUehmani- piiiriistic world uro now up! to look like businessmen, doctors and lawyers nofFsSccund Piano Concert... IIU lofty inHwIemr on such stupcndoul f. .-. and tu it mt their art as 11 »killed profc-.-iou rather than a noetic ritual. Most and the independence with which he cbocatcs the pictures he deigns to ap rd thorn big names possess 3 technical efficiency that would put many of tha pear in have only helped to convinu; movie producers that he is in’dve 1 oldtime virtuoso» of Paderewski’» era to shame. Vladimir lluroHitz, who the world’s greatest pianist. has a ptannality like a ncumlitf Steel bpring, play- the piano with a digital mechanisi» probably unoquidrd for shew dash and brilliance in tin? memo Man of the world ries of the oldrot I.untemporary critics. Artm Schnubel. who rewmbles n VicnnrMt |w)< liialrinl, plays Beethoven and Mozart with a achnlnrahip (hot HESE rather striking evidences of public esteem arc, of course, a trib i*iscientifically impeccable. Rudolf Serkin, who looks like ¡1 worried college ute ti» Rubinstein’s prowess at die keyboard. But they iircolra a tribute I wi:li ll.e -Sill,. ..ribrnl Tto a pcraonality that might have stepped out of the mor.- elegant passages • f uniformity. Wolter Girweking, u man of prodigious i.piipm.nt whose a Tolstoy novel. Aitur Rubinstein, like Paderewski, is the tinwer of an old- achievements with Buch and Debussy arc probably uncqualcd in this fiett. world tradition with deep roots in the salons of 10th Canluiy Europe. Un ciuliun. grunt?• • —and......... licitmt» mti at at tlicth. piano piano Jikc like a a liippopotumtteliippopotumus inin labor.labor. «Myrn My like most musicians Im is a philosopher, a man of the wot Id, a wit. a ^ba Hess plays laaboautifuUyaa 22 thèb. bwtuf ber mole compelitors and look-- lite rite. u sophisticated converNitionalist and an estheta of discritiunuliug .1 liaixbonie. middle-aged1,1 ' British" ’ ' . ..............................worker. Jo«-Iturbi rtsemlile»—......... an tastes. He .an dfacu«* books, rminting, contemporary mores or politi.-« •>* affable and prosperous ad salesman, When he takes lime off from licit easily ash. can th. technical details of< sonata. His close«! friend» are not ai élan ami brillianci- sfeians but author», politicians, princes, actors and tulisL«. 1 In is nqunllv The man who virtuoMtv. Pullman[>..ll..._.. smoker, .1 transatlanticJ_____t------------- plane, at an. ■<>..Elsa itMaxwell <1 showmanship t-arty,t-ariy, 11 Washing«Washington soiree, a gathering of another Polo whose Parisian left-bankleft-bank «existentialists or a royal court. He treats his music not as a solemn Merely as a apactaelft Kulnnstein . raft but as ;t pleasant udjunct to -inciul in- prcssivc. As lie bounds onto the Stage hr trrcourau. "I like to win people’s hrarls,*’ lias the strange metallic look of an impaiy he eonft^sn, with old-world gallantry, and sivc Oriental idol about to be involve«) in whether he does it by way of the fceybuaid some sinister, cabalistic, ritual. Hi.- stocky or through hi* lively powers as a ’aeon, Body issurmounted by an enigmatic, nuu.1 leur and man about town, the results ar. like face somewhat nx-nnli equally imprftMive, anteater. It is toppl'd with Artur Rubinstein's home is near Holly of graying han. When hi wood, a city ho likes mainly bccnusc of its play hesttack9 lit-piano with great lunges, warm climate anil the informality of it- bouncing his Imndsuli the keyboard until social life. Rut th. C0*m08 he actually in they rise above his rearing scalp. In cli habits encompfla-cs a Inr-llung network of maxes he lias a tendency lu rise higher auaitoriunu, railroad stations, landing and higher off the piano stool, pouncing fields, hotels ami drying moms sratterrd on the keys from a nedr-staading position. over nuorly the whule of the chili/, d When it is all over he seems lost in a po- world. In some 40 year« of continuous etie trance from which thunderous ap- touring he has rov.rml ".um-thing in the [lausc gradually awakens him. Rubinstein neighborhood of 2 milium tnlieK. lie ha* »iks the diabolical part of a true virtumu«. TENTI! ANNIVERbtRY -f Rubinstein? Irtet h« Anime had permanent homes in Berlin, Warsaw. This spectacular visual demonstration Paris, the French Riviera. London ami OLDTIME GREATS of the world of piano playing were Ignace Jan Pade rewski (top left), Sergei Rachmaninoff (top right), Moriz Rosenthal (bottom left) and Josef Hofmann. All are dead except Hofmann, who, at the age of 72, is still a prominent virtuoso. Paderewski was the great idol of the Gay ’90s. RUBINSTEIN New York, lie speaks nine languages with perfect fluency. He has given concerts in practically every country except Tibet and knows Cape Town, Buenos A ires and Shanghai as intimately as the average man knows the streets of Iris home town. Every year he ranges some part of ibis vast territory, crossing the paths of a dozen other simi lar international musical celebrities like Heifetz, Menuhin,Horowitz and Kreisler, all of whom enjoy a peculiar international position unknown in politics, science or any other field of art. The expres sion "citizen of the world” is often loosely applied to confirmed expatriates, diplomats and moderately footloose travelers. It fits Rubinstein like an elegantly tailored suit. Rubinstein's tastes and ways of thinking reflect his in ternational habitat. He collects old English editions, Hindu sculpture and French cognac according to taste and without the slightest regard for established opinion, His favorite brand of cognac is obscure and exquisite. He discovered it himself after sampling at least half the CONTINUED ON PAGE 103 CONTEMPOR ARY GREATS include Vladimir Horowitz (top left), brilliant technician; Myra Hess (tup right), greatest woman pianist; Artur Schnabel (bulloni left), a master of Beethoven, and Walter Gieseking (bottom right), who lias been in Europe since the war but ranks among the world's top performers.

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