Rubinstein Fantaisie/Concertstück (Banowetz)

[Gareth Vaughan]

The 5th still really needs an absolutely first-rate recording, IMHO.

I very much agree, Alan. And this is especially a pity because I think it is his best Piano Concerto. Incidentally, I heartily agree with the comments expressed here praising the Fantaisie Op. 84 (it was, I think, originally written for piano solo and later revised for piano & orchestra) - a most engaging work.

[eschiss1]

There's also Shelest/Järvi in no.5 in addition to the 3 already mentioned, but I agree that Hamelin, Powell or a similar pianist, with a matching conductor and orchestra, would be wanted, I think...

[Alan Howe]

I wonder why there haven't been any further recordings of the Fantaisie or Concertstück...

[John Boyer]

It was my understanding that Shelest/Järvi were going to record them, but I am unsure if this has happened.

[Alan Howe]

We can hope...

[John Boyer]

(it was, I think, originally written for piano solo and later revised for piano & orchestra)

The origin of that is Joseph Banowetz's notes for his Marco Polo recording, where he said that the work was written for piano solo in 1869 and recast for piano and orchestra in 1880.  I wrote to Mr. Banowetz about this and after discussing it he thinks he might have misread the publication history that appears in Groves, which states that the work was published in a two-piano reduction in 1869 and the full score in 1880, but nothing about an 1869 solo piano version. 

Philip Taylor's biography mentions him working on it in the summer of 1869, then performing the work along with the 4th Concerto in an orchestral concert in Moscow in December of that year.  Over the next ten years he is mentioned as playing "the solo part in his Fantasy in C" several times in various orchestral concerts, including a performance in October 1878 where he conducted Schumann's 4th Symphony, then sat at the piano to play the piano part of the Fantasy with Napravnik leading the orchestra.

So I think the "original solo piano version", like a ghost word, is a ghost score.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks for that clarification, John.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Yes, thank you. Very helpful.