Arthur Rubinstein at 90 - INTERVIEW (part.1)

RUBINSTEIN answers who is best pianist ! “Rubinstein at 90“ is an interview at Rubinstein's home in Paris, on the Avenue Foch. Robert MacNeil queries him on his “prodigious appetite for life,“ and Rubinstein replies by talking about his failing eyesight--which has now opened his ears and made time to listen to Mahler, singers, violinists, pianists, everything. His motto since youth is the Polish equivalent of “I will not give in!“ A failed suicide attempt at age 20 in Berlin gave Rubinstein a new life, a new appreciation of the joy and vitality of life. When MacNeil tries to characterize Rubinstein as “the best“ pianist of his time, Rubinstein scoffs. “Nothing in Art can be 'the best.' It can only be different--itself. Each artist is a world, a universe unto himself.“ We see Rubinstein with Andre Previn and the London Symphony, performing an excerpt from the Grieg Concerto, which Rachmaninov called the most perfect concerto. Later,