newjerseynewsroom.com

“But, lo and behold, quite the contrary happened. Both great masters began to count out the sums they could have earned and became so involved in this important matter that…[they] continued happily dreaming of the immense fortunes they could have earned. When they were leaving, they exchanged a hearty handshake at the door and promised each other to find more sums to think of.”

A month before he died, Rachmaninoff became an American citizen.

Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982)

A great pianist, but something of a showoff. And very stuck on himself. The great violinist Jascha Heifetz complained that records of trios he, Rubinstein, and cello player Emanuel Feuermann made always listed Rubinstein first. Rubinstein countered that on the scores they played, the piano player was listed first. Not always, said Heifetz.

“If God himself played the violin,” expostulated Rubinstein, “the recording would read, ‘Rubinstein, God, Feuermann!’”

He was born in Poland, and was, like all famous musicians, a child prodigy. He actually played the Saint-Saens piano concerto for Saint-Saens himself (in 1906).

He was always boasting of his masculinity. Of his youth, he said, “It is said of me that when I was young I divided my time impartially among wine, women, and song. I deny this categorically. Ninety percent of my interests were women.”

It was Rubinstein who rehabilitated Chopin. At the time Chopin was considered an effeminate composer, his music fit only for women to play delicately in salons. Rubinstein played Chopin athletically, as Chopin was meant to be played – which was not just for the ladies.

He had amazing musical abilities, and could play entire symphonies in his head. “At breakfast,” he said, “I might pass a Brahms symphony in my head. Then I am called to the phone, and half an hour later I find it’s been going on all the time and I’m in the third movement.” Rubinstein's friends would randomly pick excerpts from symphonic and operatic scores, and ask him to play them from memory. He astonished them.

Schonberg said Rubinstein “is and always will be the romantic pianist par excellence.”

His rival was Horowitz. Writes Schonberg, “He heard the young Vladimir Horowitz and was both exhilarated and depressed. Exhilarated because of the way Horowitz played. Depressed because he was so good…. Rubinstein went backstage to pay his respects and found Horowitz unhappy; he said that he had played a wrong note in Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantasy.

‘I would gladly give ten years of my life,’ Rubinstein wrote, ‘to claim only one wrong note after a concert.’ The two pianists did not hit it off very well…. Basically, one feels, they really detested one another.”

At the age of 90, Rubinstein left his wife and ran away with his secretary. Macho to the end.

Vladimir Horowitz (1903-1989)

An incredible technician, like Heifetz. Between loud and soft, he had seemingly infinite gradations. And his fortissimo would almost knock you down.

Born in Russia he made his debut in Berlin in 1926, as a last-minute substitute. The conductor, Eugen [cq] Pabst, treated this thin, pale, totally unknown pianist contemptuously. He opened the score, stared at Horowirz coldly, and said, in French, “Look, you. I conduct like this. This is my opening tempo. Here, I take it this way. There, I take it that way.”

“Oui, monsieur, oui, monsieur,” said the intimidated Horowitz.

“Just watch my stick,” said Pabst, “and nothing too terrible can happen.”

Horowitz could play fortissimo. And after the concerto’s orchestra opening, Horowitz broke loose with cannon fire.

Pabst spun around in amazement, Abram Chasins writes in his book, “Speaking of Pianists.” Then the conductor jumped off the podium and raced over to the piano, staring incredulously at Horowitz’s hands. His face reflected total disbelief. “When it was all over, the piano lay on the platform like a slain dragon and the whole house rose as one, screaming hysterically. Pabst grabbed his soloist and hugged him repeatedly, while the audience tore the place apart.”

Later, Horowitz said, “That was my big break.”