The Incomparable Rudolf Serkin is a two-disc set in a digi-pak format released in 2003 to coincide with the celebration of the great Austrian pianist's 100th birthday. The second disc in the set consists of two previously released performances, the first being
Brahms' E minor Cello Sonata recorded at Kennedy Center with
Mstislav Rostropovich as soloist, and the other is
Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 16 in D, K. 451, with
Claudio Abbado and the
Chamber Orchestra of Europe, made at the Grosser Saal Konzerthaus in Vienna. The first disc was wholly new at the time of release, featuring
Serkin in the last three piano sonatas of
Beethoven, also recorded in Vienna, this time at a live concert. He had recorded all of the music on The Incomparable Rudolf Serkin before, with some of these pieces even multiple times, although no one can argue with the desirability of hearing an artist of
Serkin's caliber perform such important works based on 50 or so years of experience playing them.
Serkin made most of his best recordings during a 35-year period in which he was associated with CBS Masterworks, and in his last years acted as a sort of free agent as a recording artist. These recordings were produced during a period in the 1980s where
Serkin was working with Deutsche Grammophon, and
Serkin was past 80 when he recorded all of this material, save the
Brahms. The
Brahms demonstrates that
Serkin was fully in his faculties technically and artistically at age 79, and he and
Rostropovich truly make some beautiful music together. Although the piano sounds a little far away in the
Mozart concerto,
Serkin is likewise on his game here and delivers a poised and elegant, if not outstanding, reading of it with
Abbado and the
COE.
That leaves the newly released concert, an ambitious program that does not appear to have been one of his best outings -- there are numerous finger (and memory) slips throughout the three sonatas, of which the most difficult and elusive (Opus 111) results in the best performance of the night. If the
Mozart is any indication of his abilities in his mid-eighties,
Serkin's somewhat erratic
Beethoven concert was the result of an off night rather than due to age and infirmity. From a listening standpoint though, these late
Serkin performances of late
Beethoven sonatas are not wholly without reward, as his warmth, expertise, and humanism are still fully apparent -- he provides a wonderful sense of overall shape and clarity to the Opus 111, a work that is the result of
Beethoven at his most schizophrenic and disorganized.
Serkin truly was "incomparable"; but, The Incomparable Rudolf Serkin shows that if he did suffer by comparison, it was only to himself. On the other hand, the
Brahms is truly great, and this set is very generous for the asking price, which is minimal.