![]() Rubinstein's most notable ventures into chamber music in the 1960s involved some magnificent Beethoven and Brahms sonata recordings with Szeryng and some Brahms chamber music with the Guarneri Quartet. The performance is exemplary, as it is in a companion disc (60035-2-RG) containing a rather miscellaneous collection of works for clarinet and orchestra by Weber, Mozart and Rossini, with Alexander Schneider conducting the Mostly Mozart Orchestra. This is mostly from the last generation and often involves Rubinstein, but the all-digital recording of the two Brahms clarinet sonatas by Richard Stoltzman and Richard Goode (60036-2-RG) dates from 1981. The Gold Seal series is particularly notable for some excellently played and well-recorded chamber music. The performances are vigorous, technically splendid and musically perceptive at the highest level. On RCA 7841-2-RG (two CDs), his 1942 recording of Bach's "Goldberg" Variations, with the 1945 recording of the Chromatic Fantasy, can be heard in sound that is still clear and powerful despite traces of surface noise. Notable among these are Jascha Heifetz, Henryk Szeryng and Artur Rubinstein, but right at the head of the Schwann CD Catalog's "Gold Seal" list is the great name of an artist from the past who kept busy during Cliburn's 11-year "intermission" and is still brilliantly active: pianist Claudio Arrau. RCA's mid-price "Gold Seal" series is studded with many other great names from the recent past besides Cliburn's. He can also be heard (though he is not the focus of interest) in a fine collection of three harp concertos by Handel, Gossec and Reinecke (ECD 40014) with Lily Laskine as soloist. To date, the repertoire includes Beethoven's Sixth Symphony (ECD 40002), Schubert's Ninth (ECD 40010) and a collection of Wagner overtures (ECD 40013). Erato's bargain "Success" series is worth seeking out for the performances of conductor Theodore Guschlbauer with the New Philharmonia Orchestra or the Bamberg Symphony. Less definitive but notable for some extraordinary passages are Bruno Walter's interpretation of Mozart's "Linz" and "Prague" Symphonies (MYK 38473), Leonard Bernstein's reading of Sibelius' Second Symphony with the New York Philharmonic (MYK 38477) and the Glenn Gould performances of Bach's "Piano Concertos" 1, 4 and 5 (MYK 38524). Szell and the Cleveland are joined by Leon Fleisher on MYK 37812 for outstanding performances of Franck's Symphonic Variations, Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" and Ravel's "Alborada del gracioso." And Isaac Stern, Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra explore all the dimensions of Prokofiev's two violin concertos in their 1963 recording (MYK 38525). No matter how many recordings of Dvorak's Eighth Symphony you may own, you should make shelf-room for the one by George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra (MYK 38470), which found the composer, conductor and orchestra all at their awesome best. Other Bargains The moderately priced "Great Performances" CDs issued by CBS are generally a safe investment for thrifty collectors, but several recent issues stand out. Out in the marketplace, this should matter little Cliburn is better-known, even after his long years of inactivity, and the magic of a famous name is reinforced by that of a bargain price. Cliburn's Beethoven and Brahms performances are not bad, but the competition is fierce and this is not music specially suited to his talents, as it is to those of Rudolf Serkin, Alfred Brendel and a host of others. He is superbly accompanied by Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony on two other CDs: 7943-2-RG, which has Beethoven's Concertos 4 and 5, and 7942-2-RG, with Brahms' No. 2 of Rachmaninoff and 6 of Prokofiev on 7941-2-RG are also highly congenial to his flamboyant talent, and well calculated to show of the virtues of power and precision that won him his fame. With Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cliburn gives outstanding performances of the Grieg Concerto and the two by Liszt on 7834-2-RG, and Chopin's First Concerto and Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini on 7945-2-RG. More recent additions to the list have just been issued in RCA's mid-price "Van Cliburn Collection." There are no surprises, of course, in these records, which have had a classic status for a long time. His Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky concertos have been around for quite a while on CD: Tchaikovsky 1 with Kiril Kondrashin and Rachmaninoff 2 with Fritz Reiner on RCA 5912-2-RC Rachmaninoff 3 with Kondrashin and Prokofiev 3 with Hendl on RCA 6209-2-RC. Paralleling his return to the concert stage, RCA has been remastering and reissuing his great recordings from the past. After the outstanding success of his recent concert in Philadelphia and his triumphal return to Moscow, where he became an instant celebrity 30 years ago, Van Cliburn seems well-launched on a comeback career.
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