Customer Rating: 
Summary: (+) Unbeatable Bargain, but Not the Claimed Reference Standard
Comment: At less than $30, this has to be one of the greatest bargains currently out there. For many lovers of Chopin and piano playing, Rubinstein's late 1950s/early 1960s RCA survey is the Bible. Undoubtedly, it contains some godly Chopin playing. However, there is too much unevenness and lack of drama for this cycle to live up to its reference status.
Indeed, this is a Chopin Collection and not a complete survey, missing the Etudes, Rondos, Variations, early Polonaises, First Sonata, concert fantasies, chamber music as well as some miscellaneous pieces--most notably the Op post Nocturnes, Mazurkas, Waltzes and Prelude, plus the Op 45 Prelude and Allegro de concert. In contrast to the Ashkenazy set, this collection includes the two Concertos.
Particularly Rubinstein's Waltzes, Mazurkas and Nocturnes are often claimed to be of reference standard (persistently so both by Jed Distler and the Penguin Guide). Indeed, some of them are excellent (the Opp 59 and 68 Mazurkas as well as the Opp 27/2 and 48/1 Nocturnes), whereas too many suffer from what I would call a general lack of drama--that is underplayed contrasts in tempo, dynamics and above articulation (the Waltzes annoyingly much so). Rubinstein tends to play everything in a similarly smooth manner with an unfailing beauty of tone; hence, the results are never less than comfortable. However, the individual imagination--and thus memorableness--of the likes of Ohlsson, Moravec, Pogorelich, and even to some extent Ashkenazy, seldom surfaces. At times, the adjectives tired and feeble may even be used (if truth be told, Mr Rubinstein was no less than between 71 and 80 years old when recording this collection). A striking example emerges when comparing the revolutionary Second and maturely bel canto Third Sonatas: Rubinstein is truly at home in the sumptuous sonorities of the Third, whereas the Second is plain bland. Even more interesting is to compare the 1946 mono version with the 1961 stereo version (both of which are included in the collection), where the former completely outshines the latter in terms of dynamism and liveliness. This actually seems to be true in general for Rubinstein's mono Chopin renditions, even though I admittedly have severe problems with the very mono sound.
Notwithstanding the above said, Rubinstein gives us truly spiritual accounts of the Barcarolle, Berceuse, Op 53 Polonaise as well as the Andante spianato & Grand Polonaise. Luckily, the recorded sound is surprisingly good considering its age and the label--in fact, if somewhat dynamically constricted, largely preferable both to the metallic Decca sound given to Ashkenazy's cycle (Chopin: The Piano Works) and above all to the boxy and clunky Naxos sound in the Biret survey (Chopin: Complete Piano Music). Again acknowledging the unbeatable value of this Chopin Collection, it still cannot compare with Ohlsson's reference series for Arabesque, recorded in the most glorious sound on an impeccable Bösendorfer instrument--due to be issued as a boxed set by Hyperion on 11 November (Complete Works, actually already released in the UK at a real bargain price!).
