ARTHUR RUBINSTEIN in POLAND (1979) - Sentimental Journey - Podróż Sentymentalna
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- A very moving and revealing documentary film ("Podróż Sentymentalna", or "Sentimental Journey") about Arthur Rubinstein's last trip to Poland when he was 92 years old. In it, he visits Warsaw, Chopin's house and the museum at Żelazowa Wola, and Łódź, the city of his birth. Also, excellent Polish folk groups sing Polish songs and dance the mazurka for him (that scene starts at about 22:38 into the clip).
It also includes archived musical clips of him rehearsing with an unnamed orchestra and conductor -- I assume that this was with the Łódź Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Henryk Czyż (???) when he performed Chopin's Concerto No. 2 in F minor and Beethoven's Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat Major in Łódź on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the Łódź Philharmonic Orchestra in 1975 (or possibly 1976; there seems to be some conflicting information out there on the web).
At the end of the film, he plays the Polonaise No. 6 in A-Flat Major, Op. 53 ("Heroic"), one of his great warhorses, as an encore after the concerto performance in Łódź. I think that this must be one of his all-time greatest renditions of that piece -- at the age of 88 or 89, he still played it with more fire and spirit than any 20-year-old pianist of today could possibly muster. And he was still in great shape pianistically: I have vivid memories of the last recital he gave in Houston in 1975 or 1976 which I was fortunate enough to be able to attend, more or less in the same time period as when he played in Łódź. The Polonaise performance starts at about 34:23 into the video.
The film was produced by Polish Television together with a French camera team in 1979-81 and broadcast by ARTE sometime in 1992, probably on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Arthur Rubinstein's death. It was broadcast on the same evening as the Hamburg documentary I posted earlier -- fortunately, I had my VCR running! :) The spoken parts are almost entirely in Polish. I translated the German subtitles provided by ARTE into English (I don't speak Polish, but have a working knowledge of Russian which helped in a few spots). There are brief times when Rubinstein speaks in English, but mostly he is speaking in Polish and some French. Since the placement of RUclips's subtitles on the video frame cannot be controlled, I blended them into the video at the top -- neither the English nor the German subtitles can be turned off because they are now part of the video stream.
At 13:00 you can see what appears to be Chopin's passport on display in the Chopin museum. Passports and visas used back in those days were awesomely large and beautiful documents, nothing like the little things we have today which fit in your pocket. Rubinstein also mentioned in the Hamburg documentary that he owned the only passport Chopin ever had (...hmmm...)
There is a bit more about this film available here (in Polish): filmpolski.pl/f...
Also, this website has some info about it in English: www.arturrubins... (search for the words "Sentimental Journey" on the web page.)
And his Polish is unbelievably elegant. A kind that hasn't been spoken since the 19th century.
Rubinstein was an aristocrat of the piano. This comeback to his homeland is really moving, indeed.
Rubinstein embraced life to the full throughout his long and remarkable life, also he never lost his proud Polish/Jewish spirit which constituted his very being. This is a profoundly moving valedictory documentary, especially the part where he is greeted by the girls choir singing those delightful Polish folk songs.
French Television are to be congratulated for this sensitively produced documentary.
what exatraordinary artist and man !! had an heart full of nobilty! always in the memories of every pianist !
Polish at heart; his roots and humanity makes him what he is. Although I am Georgian, this is all so close and poignantly beautiful. Thanks for uploading. მადლობა
Artur Rubinstein, the great Polish pianist.
I think I remember reading somewhere that he spoke eight languages fluently: Polish, German, English, French, Spanish, Russian, Italian, and Hebrew -- but possibly Yiddish in his childhood, also.
Yes, thet is Henryk Czyż conducting. My grandfather played right there on bassoon :)
Wow. What a man, what a pianist, what a life. What an inspiration!
humble and joyful. I can see how he's such a genius. This translates beautifully into how he plays.
Mistrz w każdym calu!
The Polish "folk group" (22:38) was a "Zespol Piesni i Tanca (Ansamble of Songs and Music) - Mazowsze", and the lady speaking to Arthur was Mira Ziemińska-Sygietyńska its director for nearly 40 years.
Simply wonderful!
What are u people so surprised that Rubinshtain spoke such elegant beautiful Polish? He was a Jew who was born in Poland after all... A wonderful human being n artist
beautiful and magnificent♥♥♥♥♥♥
You did a great job with this Bobhair. Many thanks.
Remarkable great man.
Laura i Filon piekne wykonanie!!!
Piękny historyczny film.
Very thank you!!!
Kochany Pianista.
Spielt mit 92 noch wie ein junger Gott !
Geniusz.
Einfach ein phänomenales Dokument,wenngleich die technische Wiedergabequalität nicht
immer optimal ist.
Archingly beautiful!
always the most interesting is what is spoken from the heart. eg between 15:50 and 16:10 :)
he spoke polish, english, spanish , german, french, italian, and russian. maybe others i don't know about.
Thank you for uploading this video. Poland was so important for Rubinstein, of course his place of birth was in Poland, Chopin, Rubinstein's family his first fiancee etc. etc.
What an absolute shame to present him with a disgusting out of tune and old 'grand' piano.
I think in the two fore last accords he shows us HOW much it was out of tune. For an instance you hear no music. very emotional for him was that he knew this was his last Polonaise in Poland... Imagine you go through that.. Viva R. !
It's not the piano. It's the way the thing was made. Lousy production values.
....the Mazurka sung, referred to, and heard is in B flat minor ( opus 24.Nr.4)
Tremen Delirius, in 17.00h he was playing the centre of Scherzo no.1.
Is a song of Christimas.
fantasic! does anyone know the title of the folksong they sing at 25:16...it's just so beautiful! love it!
The title of this song is 'Laura i Filon' ('Laura and Filon') better known under it's first verse: "Już miesiąc zaszedł, psy się pośpiły" ('The moon had set, the dogs were asleep'). It,s pastoral poetry from 1780 by Franciszek Karpiński, notable poet of Polish Enlightenment. Unfortunately composer is unknown. In my opinion it's not folk melody although it has strong Polish character. It was well known in Poland at beginning of 19th century as one of the most favourite 'national' tunes. Chopin used this melody in his Fantazja na tematy polskie (Fantasy on Polish Airs) A major op.13 for piano and orchestra.
Goodness...just how many languages did Rubinstein speak??
Eight or seven
What are you talking about ...he's a Polish Jew of course he speaks Polish
I know people ,here in the States ,who "forget" polish in just a few years...
92 and performing?
Unfortunately not. All the clips of him playing were not later than 1976 when he retired at 89. He had to stop playing because he had become mostly blind from macular degeneration and couldn't safely get on and off stage. When he died Dec. 20, 1982 he was 1 month short of his 96th birthday and had been bedridden for many months with prostate cancer which had metastasized to his bones. He himself told the story of his suicide attempt when he was about 18. He was living in misery in Berlin, he had no money and no concerts, no way to make a living, on the verge of being evicted from his lodgings because he hadn't been able to pay his rent so he tried to hang himself with the belt from his bathrobe. It broke and he crashed to the floor. He said from that moment on he chose to accept whatever life sent his way with joy and gratitude. He seems to have done just that. Imagine what the world would have lost if that belt had held.
Does anybody know the name of the piece at 17:00?
+Tremens Delirius it's chopin scherzo 1
42:06 60 lat w sluzbie kultury narodowej i robotniczej Lodzi lol
You didn't know he spoke Polish? Seriously?
Żyd, ale polski Patriota. Szkoda że michniki i inne kanalie nie poszły jego drogą..
sam jesteś.
I think the last video of the Polonaise is over-played. Perhaps he was trying to out-do Horowitz! That is what it sounds like to me.