By paul_terry
18-Oct-2011

Interesting piece, great performance  

Anton Rubinstein was a pianist and composer whose music is not so well-known these days. The 4th Concerto lies somewhere between the two Liszt Concertos and the 1st Concerto of Tchaikovsky. This performance is a great mixture of ardent lyricism in the slow movement and scorching virtuosity in the outer sections.

Oscar Levant was a classical pianist who also appeared on radio and later TV, as well as in films (including "An American in Paris" and "The Band Wagon"). His playing is hugely exciting, but also very expressive. He doesn't show off just for the sake of it.

Mitropoulos treats the music as if it's a really great work, giving it a panache well beyond its actual merit. The session must have been really high-powered (they recorded the ballet suite "Fall River Legend" by Morton Gould on the same day!).

Altogether, a superb issue. Only the limited mono sound prevents me giving it a 5 star.
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