Rubinstein - Kammenoi-Ostrow, op.10 no.22

[andhow04]

anton rubinstein - Kammenoi-Ostrow

the title of this piece references Kamenny Island, a fancy island off St Petersburg, in the Gulf of Finland. rubinstein wrote 24 character pieces based on his vacations in Kamenny but this is pretty much the only one that is played.

and it was played quite a lot, you can find recordings (mainly piano rolls) and editions by so many Golden Age pianists such as harold bauer, josef lhevinne, leopold godowsky, and others. somehow it fell into less favor as the Old World charm it represents disappeared.

i learned this originally from a series of red books called Scribner's Radio Classics, i wonder if anyone remembers those. for some reason it just popped into my mind a couple of weeks ago and i brought it back into circulation.

although i don't have Scribner's Radio Classics books anymore, i found the Godowsky edition on IMSLP, as well as another edition that has some historical interest.

before the advent of recording, published editions were how many pianists could get their interpretations out to the general public. many of these were aimed towards the skilled amateur. this other edition, by a Chas Landon, is full of bitchy polemic in the footnotes, indicating his clear hatred of these amateurs:

"Many players make a noise with the foot in using the pedal which is very distracting to -sensitive- listeners."

"If pupils were only instructed scientifically from the outset, and had brains enough to profit by the instruction, finger marks would not be required."

"Small hands ought to be stretched even more than large ones."

"There is in these days more piano pounding than legitimate piano -playing-."

etc.

finally, in the dreamy middle section of this piece, i incorporated a slide show of Kamenny Island straight from Google. enjoy

[thalbergmad]

Up to your normal very high standard of mechanical ability and sensitivity.

I played a simplified version of this when I was learning back in the 70's. The only other work of Rubinsteins I have played was the Staccato Etude and I don't think my forearms would want me to try it again.

I am sure Rubinstein borrowed the theme that starts at 4 mins, but I can't remember where I have heard it.

Thal

[anacrusis]

Very fine playing!

Without having looked up the score for the whole set, I am wondering if you can tell me why the other ones are not played? Are they not very good? This one was pretty nice.

[nw746]

Very fine playing!

Without having looked up the score for the whole set, I am wondering if you can tell me why the other ones are not played? Are they not very good? This one was pretty nice.

The scan of the complete set on IMSLP is pretty lousy, which may play a role.

The others are all about equally good, and fairly similar in style, if not necessarily character. I don't think any of them has a main theme as memorable as No. 22 though, and without a good tune, the salon music style has lost much of its appeal in the 20th century. There does exist one complete recording of the set, by Joseph Banowetz, so anyone who's interested and has access to a streaming service can check it out.

[thirtytwo2020]

"If pupils were only instructed scientifically from the outset, and had brains enough to profit by the instruction, finger marks would not be required."

[andhow04]

Up to your normal very high standard of mechanical ability and sensitivity.

I played a simplified version of this when I was learning back in the 70's. The only other work of Rubinsteins I have played was the Staccato Etude and I don't think my forearms would want me to try it again.

I am sure Rubinstein borrowed the theme that starts at 4 mins, but I can't remember where I have heard it.

Thal

thanks so much for the kind words
this is the only Rubinstein piece i have ever played. i will have to look at the etude... if i can order a hard copy of the whole of Kam.Ost. i will flip through it, i don't like to use downloads generally

i wish you knew what the theme was. in the Chas London edition, he wrote,

"Later, we hear the organ and the priest's chant and, by the way, the first few notes are taken literally from the Hebrew chant which is still used in those Greek churches."

my repertoire of hebrew chants is pretty limited and i guess by "GreeK" he just means "Orthodox?" so i dont really know what this refers to. i would love to though