Last Concert in Poland

Farewell to Poland Although Artur Rubinstein (1887-1982) left Poland as a 10-year-old prodigy to perfect his playing in Berlin and became an American citizen at the age of 60, he remained deeply attached to his former homeland throughout his life. When he was asked to play for the delegates at the founding of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945, he was deeply disappointed and angry that no delegation from Poland, which was still occupied by the Germans at the time, had been invited. Rubinstein later recalled that he was overwhelmed by blind rage and angrily pointed out to the audience the absence of the Polish flag. He interrupted the concert, asked the audience to stand (including the Soviets, who had also annexed parts of the country as part of the Hitler-Stalin Pact) and played the Polish national anthem, repeating the final part in a thunderous forte. In 1975 he performed for the last time in Poland, playing in his hometown Lódz with the Lódz Filharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Henryk Czyz. Rubinstein had great appreciation for the conductor and performed with him frequently. During a joint concert in Paris in 1974, Czyz invited him to Lódz to celebrate the diamond jubilee of the Philharmonie. On the programme were Beethoven's Fifth and Chopin's Second Piano Concerto, with Chopin's Polonaise in A-flat major, op. 53 as an encore. Rubinstein visited Poland for the last time in 1979, but without giving a concert, as he was struggling with declining eyesight. Therefore, he took his final farewell from the stage at the London Wigmore Hall in 1976. The memorable 1975 concert is being released on CD here by the NIFC for the first time and can be considered a particularly valuable audio document of the pianist.