In his time, from the early '30s through the late '80s,
Rudolf Serkin was acknowledged to be one of the great pianists. And in his repertoire -- that is, from
Bach through
Brahms --
Serkin was one of the greatest pianists. But
Serkin's time passed with his death in 1991, and contemporary pianists and critics rarely site him as one of the masters of the keyboard. This 2008 Sony-BMG two-disc set called The Essential Rudolf Serkin attempts to readjust the balance by presenting selections from the pianist's vast number of recordings for Columbia. Naturally, all of it is drawn from his recordings of Austro-Germanic composers with solo works by
Beethoven,
Schubert, and
Mendelssohn, concerted works by
Brahms,
Schumann,
Mendelssohn, and
Mozart, and even a movement from a chamber work by
Brahms. Though some listeners might regret that some works are presented in excerpted form -- only the first movement of
Brahms' Second Piano Concerto? -- few could complain about the variety of the program.