Description
Anton Rubinstein, one of the most eminent pianists and composers of the late 19th century, is the focus of this new collection of piano arrangements based on his songs. The transcriptions have been prepared by Jonathan Summers, a musician active in many fields including performance, teaching, composition, and education.
Although Rubinstein composed more than 200 songs over the course of his life, they are now very rarely performed. His songs combine the traditions of the German Lied with an elegant melodic flow and a profound Russian lyricism, at times rising to dramatic intensity. In this volume, Summers—deeply familiar with Rubinstein’s music—has carefully selected and arranged works that allow us to experience the very essence of Rubinstein’s song output through the medium of the piano.
Preface by Jonathan Summers
Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894) was the greatest pianist of the second half of the nineteenth century. Renowned for his interpretive powers and natural spontaneity, his repertoire was all encompassing from Bach to his present day. However, it was as a composer that Rubinstein wished to be remembered, but even during his lifetime only a handful of his large scale works were popular, in particular the Piano Concerto No. 4 in D minor and the opera The Demon. During the first half of the twentieth century some of his piano solos remained in the repertoire and were recorded by some of the great pianists of the day such as Leopold Godowsky, Josef Hofmann and Ignace Paderewski. These piano works include the Melody in F, Valse Caprice, Romance in E flat,some of the Barcarolles, the Staccato Etude from Op. 23 and Kamennoi-Ostrov from Op. 10. Although we can hear all of his six Symphonies and five Piano Concertos in recordings today, the majority of his operas and oratorios are unknown – Paradise Lost, The Tower of Babel, Dmitri Donskoy, Feramors, Die Kinder der Haide, The Maccabees, Nero, and The Merchant Kalashnikov among others.
The neglect of these works is understandable (not only from a financial perspective of performance) as the actual scores have little to offer the contemporary audience. However, one genre of Rubinstein’s output that has unjustly been neglected are his songs. Only three are known, mainly though recordings from the beginning of the twentieth century, and two transcriptions by Franz Liszt composed at the end of his life. These are The Asra, The Turbulent Waters of the Kur are boiling (often translated as Gold rolls beneath my feet) and The Sparkling Dew (Es blinkt der Tau). There are more than two hundred songs by Rubinstein and many deserve attention from perceptive singers. Rubinstein often reflected his chosen texts with great subtlety and was inspired by some of them to write exquisitely beautiful melodies. Rubinstein mostly set German texts (he lived in Dresden for part of his life) and some of these were translated into Russian. The poems he chose often reflected his outlook on life — a longing for a past that is lost, of bittersweet young love — an outlook that extended to his preferences in music. He wrote that music finished with the death of Chopin and Schumann.
After researching this overlooked corner of the repertoire, I decided to create piano transcriptions of the songs I liked the best in the hope that it would attract the attention of singers who may be encouraged to explore this music in its original form. The melodies of Verlust, Him who I had chosen from all others and the final section of Tragedy are exceptional for their beauty.
I have tried to retain the original structure of the songs and present each in its original style without the detraction of unnecessary cascades of notes so beloved by piano transcribers. An exception is the one I wrote first, The Turbulent Waters of the Kur are boiling, because the original consists of repeated verses of the same melody over an unaltered accompaniment.
Rubinstein often used the tempo marking ‘con moto’ which is not altogether helpful. Therefore, I decided to add metronome marks in brackets indicating the tempo at which I envisage the songs to be played. This is, of course, only a guide to help the interpreter. I would suggest that, above all, the pianist should emulate the voice and concentrate on the production of a full and varied tone. Rubinstein himself was a master of ‘touch’ – something that in his time was highly regarded and essential in piano playing, but today is almost forgotten. When Rubinstein played in London in 1881 critic JS Shedlock wrote, ‘He possesses one of the greatest and rarest of gifts — a fine touch — so that at times he sings rather than plays; and he understands the law of contrast, for he can render equally well passages requiring force and fire, and those demanding the utmost grace and delicacy. But more than all this, he thoroughly enters into the spirit of the various works, and gives them out as if they were inspired improvisations….’
Jonathan Summers 2025
Jonathan Summers Profile
Jonathan was awarded a scholarship to the Intermediate School of the Royal Academy of Music, London at the age of fifteen where he continued his studies full-time at eighteen gaining a graduate degree. Further tuition at the Royal College of Music followed resulting in a performance diploma and since then Jonathan has pursued many musical activities including performing, accompanying, coaching, teaching, composing and researching. His main academic interest is in pianists of the past and historical piano recordings and on this subject he is a leading authority having published an 860 page book.
In 2003 Jonathan and soprano Rebecca Plack gave the premiere of his song cycle Five Poems of Robert Frost and in 2005 together they won the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition resulting in concerts in London and Budapest.
Jonathan Summers is Curator of Classical Music at the British Library.
