Rubinstein Concert: 8th

Includes program.

“Two numbers of the programme last night at Steinway Hall deserve particular mention. The first was Herr Rubinstein’s remarkable interpretation of Weber’s second grand sonata (A flat); the other, Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata, for piano and violin, played by Rubinstein and Wieniawski. Both were new revelations to our public, and the Kreutzer Sonata in particular was a phenomenal performance, in which both artists distinguished themselves in a very high degree, though the pianist showed much the more poetical feeling of the two. The adagio in particular was exquisite. Rubinstein indeed seems to grow greater and greater the more one hears him. At every new performance he shows some new characteristic of genius which we had not noticed before, and draws from his instrument some new effect of which we had never suspected the possibility.”

“Messrs. Rubinstein and Wieniawski appeared again at Steinway Hall last evening, and their performances once more produced an impression shown by applause and recalls seemingly interminable. The magnificent ‘Kreutzer’ sonata, by Beethoven, was the principal feature of the programme; and when we say that it was recited as it has never been recited before in this City, we cannot well declare the three or four summons to reappear, addressed to the pianist and violinist, the outgrowth of an unworthy enthusiasm. A sonata by Weber, rendered by Mr. Rubinstein, and Vieuxtemps’ concerto in A minor, played by Mr. Wieniawski, were the other important selections.”

Not a review of a specific concert: “There are to be two more Rubinstein concerts, one to-night and a matinee to-morrow. On Monday evening the company appear in Boston.

The enthusiasm that this great artist has created happily does not abate. We say happily, because it is an indication of the extent of the public appreciation of the best music.

Rubinstein is one of those downright men who lend themselves to no manner of trickery to win public applause. He reverences his art and absolutely refuses to bring it down to the hurdy-gurdy level. Those who wish to hear him must come up to the height on which the great composer stands, for he will not descend. His programmes have been faultlessly good, and have been made up of the best works that have been composed for the pianoforte. The marvel is that the public have listened to them not only with patience, but with delight, and the higher the class of work the greater the enthusiasm. For example, the Kreutzer sonata for violin and piano. There is scarcely any work that exacts more from the listener. It is very long and demands his patience. It is of sustained elevation of sentiment and requires his cultivated sympathy. It no more appeals to a sensuous ear than one of Raphael’s Madonnas does to the sensuous eye, and needs the same grade of artistic culture for its true enjoyment. And still it was unmistakably enjoyed, and on the occasion of the performance Rubinstein and Wieniawski were recalled three times, and came like true brothers in art hand in hand to receive the earnest expression of the pleasure that the audience felt. The superb fantasie by Schubert (opus 15 in C major), in which he introduces the theme from his ‘Wanderer,’ and which was substituted for the Chopin fantasie on the programme, was received with equal demonstrations of pleasure, and the same may also be said of the great pianoforte sonata known as opus 3, which is one of the composer’s latest and most abstruse works, and as severe a test as could possibly be applied to the musical intelligence of an average audience.

The only drawbacks to the entire excellence of these concerts have been the bad playing of the orchestra, under Mr. Bergmann’s direction, and the very indifferent vocalism of Mlle. Ormeny and of Mlle. Liebhart. The popular taste that is sufficiently correct to appreciate the concertos of Beethoven and Schumann is also discriminating enough to value these artistic efforts at their true worth. There is not room enough for Rubinstein and Wieniawski and for Ormeny and Liebhart on the same programme. This is one of those instances where extremes refuse to meet.”