"Even if you were God, we'd still be called the Rubinstein-God-Piatigorsky Trio," Rubinstein is said to have retorted in response to a suggestion from Heifetz that, since he was the most famous member of the trio, his name should come first, never mind tradition. And it was issues of ego and money that brought the brief existence of the so-called "Million Dollar Trio", in the 1950s, to an untimely end. The trio combined three unusually talented performers, all of whom transcended their chosen instruments, as can be observed from the separate recordings on this DVD. An 80-year-old Rubinstein is alert and focused for a reading of Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto which is remarkable for its fluidity and classicism. The Heifetz recording is a previously unpublished concert from the early 1950s with the Bell Telephone Orchestra, in which the violinist plays the first movement of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto and transcriptions of Debussy and of Dinicu's virtuoso piece, Hora Staccato — a Heifetz speciality, in which he is as imperial as ever. Last but not least, we rediscover Piatigorsky in the European première of Walton's Concerto, a work he had commissioned the composer to write, in which he performs a feat of virtuosity and lyricism, plunging himself body and soul into this relatively rare element of the repertoire.
Repertory:
Artur Rubinstein: Beethoven Piano Concerto No.4 - London 1967 Jascha Heifetz: Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, Op.64 (1st Mvt) Debussy La Fille aux cheveux de lin Dinicu Hora staccato - USA 1949 Gregor Piatigorsky: Walton Cello Concerto - London 1957 Bonus Artur Rubinstein: Chopin Polonaise in A flat major, Op.53, Maestoso - London 1968
