Technique or mannerisms?

I would say technique; it uses weight to create a very powerful sound in staccato without fatiguing the musculature. It seems like an intelligent way to avoid muscular suffering and arrive at the end of the piece still relaxed. Making that sound without dropping from above would require excessive muscular effort, contraction, and therefore tendonitis.

I was not familiar with the piece and seeing it gave me the impression of accompanying the dance... surely as Lory says, maybe it is also a technical matter...

Rubinstein more than once said he makes certain movements because "the audience likes them very much"

lory wrote:

I would say technique; it uses weight to create a very powerful sound in the staccato without fatiguing the musculature. It seems like an intelligent way to avoid muscular suffering and arrive at the end of the piece still relaxed. Making that sound without falling from above would require excessive muscular effort, contraction, and therefore tendonitis.

I fully agree with Lory: her answer is very precise and correct.

It is evident that the experience and the "craft" of a great pianist may also have given him the opportunity to emphasize certain movements in order to put on a "show" (and note the presence of four ladies in the front row of the audience...), but the true nature of the gesture is absolutely technical, and it seems to me that the video is truly exemplary in this sense.

Using the weight at that speed? mmmm.....

Just put your hands on the piano and try some things out. Put yourself with your hands attached to the keyboard and play that part, repeat the movement as Rubinstein did, and then draw your conclusions. I am much less tense in the second condition...

I met the great pianist personally. He was not the only one making decisions from above. Lory is right, I agree. Watching him play, at first many thought it was all for "show," myself included. Later, I think I understood. The sonic and muscular effect is excellent.

I cannot find the interview, but I remember reading that regarding this very piece, Rubinstein himself spoke about the effect on the audience. Maybe I remember incorrectly... In any case, to use weight one must have the "physical" time; it would be interesting to check if it is possible to exploit weight in those very brief time intervals or if there is materially not enough time to do so.

'notte"

In my opinion, the video is edited in post-production; as for "weight to obtain a powerful sound," one could also argue about the trills (they are played with a strong accent), but the chords are not the result of that movement, which was done only for the cameras.

I see that viewpoints are different, how could one eventually know for certain? Do you know if there are articles/letters/statements that might somehow provide some clarity?

I met the Maestro personally, so much so that he gave me a beautiful personal dedication on one of his 33 rpm records, which you can see on my personal website. We were very young when we found ourselves in front of the entrance of the Auditorium on via della Conciliazione at 5 in the morning to stand in line and purchase the last "balcony seats" at a reduced price, at the back, yes, behind the piano, but... close to the pianist. It was me and an Iranian boy arriving with a thermos of coffee. At ten, when the ticket office opened, the numbered pieces of paper signed by us... were worth gold. About 25 seats! Rubinstein was very sociable and never grew tired. I was amazed, we were all amazed, by the energy he had even in old age. He was always smiling and made witty jokes. Anyone who was able to observe him playing from below the stage will remember that he very often played chords with confidence even at various minimum or maximum distances from the keyboard. After all, if we observe other great performers of his generation (videos like "the art of piano"), we will notice that "the old school" often suggested playing "from above," i.e., using gravity and the fall of the forearm more than the involvement of the shoulder (prepared chords). Aside from the scenic effect, repetitive and alternating chords, like those in the dance of fire, result, in my opinion, in being more tiring at a certain speed when played with preparation and pressure. The momentum of the arm also imposes a certain rhythm on the entire muscular apparatus. Try it. Let's also take into account that the piece in question is a transcription and can be played with greater freedom. Returning to the great Arthur, he himself, at our insistence, which was well received, performed the movement on his knees, claiming in a mix of languages (but French prevailed) that the sound effect was extraordinary to him. Naturally, these encounters were always brief, but it had become a ritual to greet him and ask for something after the concerts. His introduction to me was more complete and longer when I was accompanied by his tuner from Rome, Riccardo Orsini, who was also mine. Orsini, as I have told you many times, saved his recording of all Chopin's mazurkas for RCA at via Tiburtina in Rome, preparing the piano exactly as He wanted. That recording was made straight through without corrections from 3 PM to 11 PM. The next day Rubinstein had to leave for New York. Perhaps there is some footage that I saw as a boy. Footage back then printed in 16 mm by S.Paolo Films in black and white where Rubinstein talks about some of his technical solutions. Anyone able to track them down, please let us know; they are extremely rare.

Thank you Pianoexpert, a piece of history...

Surely Simone or Foster will correct what I am about to say, but I will try anyway.

In order to use gravity decently, there must be enough time. If we assume that the maximum distance between poor Arthur's arms and the keyboard is, what, 35, 40 cm, and we hypothesize that his arms do nothing but fall from above as dead weight, we would have uniformly accelerated motion and therefore Distance = 1/2 acc. of gravity * t(2), so 0.35 = 5 * t(2), from which we get t = approximately 0.25, i.e., 1/4 of a second. It seems to me that in one second Rubinstein performs at least 4 of these movements, considering then that not only do his arms "fall" but they must also "rise" to perform the same movement again, whereas before we were simply considering a fall from above without initial velocity (by the way). And so he moves at a speed I would say almost double! At this point, how important is gravity and how important are his muscles instead? The difficult judgment belongs to the scientists...

I'll try to answer. Naturally, gravity is not "pure," but accompanied by two aids: a bit of muscular push and a rebound obtained by creating a finger resistance-grip upon impact. It is difficult to describe. I will try to provide an example in the next video on technique. Unfortunately, we won't be able to record anything else for a short while. But the summer break, I hope, will allow us to edit a video on technique and two on technology, namely "custom adjustments of the transmission mechanics" and "Scheduled maintenance program for the mechanics and the entire instrument."