Rubinstein as Composer for the Pianoforte

Extract

The aim of this lecture-recital is to throw a stone, however small, on the cairn of a great, though for the moment much obliterated, memory. As a matter of interest, I propose to play pieces the great majority of which are likely to be unfamiliar. The interspersed remarks will be biographical and illustrative. As a preliminary I would establish three theses:—(a) Rubinstein is at the present date unduly neglected; (b) the meaning of original creative power in music is not sufficiently understood and recognised; (c) the influence of race as affecting musical composition, especially on the point of originality, is ignored.