Liszt Sonata - Arthur Friedheim

[@benjaminsawyer1292]

What I found quite interesting was how in the cadenza on page 19 of the second roll, he doesn't play it as fast possible which is the temptation when it comes to cadenzas. It just shows you that the music and structure should always be in mind especially over technical showmanship.

[@tortysoft]

Thanks Rex. My wife and I really enjoyed this ! I'll post it on the Promenader's page

[@gerardbedecarter]

Thanks, Rex, for this wonderful presentation.

[@AdamRamet]

PURE AWESOMENESS!

[@ValzainLumivix]

Nice

[@MrHeffer]

Very good article , Douglas Heffer in Paris

[@pianolainstitute]

Hello Douglas - it's very good to have your voice here. Merry Christmas to you and the Queen, from Rona and the King!

[@tomasgarcia9565]

thaaaankkssssss

[@zavilov]

So much interesting playing herein. Where did you find the annotated score? The voicing on this piano is fabulous.

[@pianolainstitute]

Thank you - glad you enjoyed it! The score is available on the website of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, where Arthur Friedheim's son funded a library named after his father, and donated what remained of the pianist's musical archive. I asked for permission to use it, and I was reassured by a very friendly librarian that it is in the public domain. Unfortunately most of Friedheim's musical effects were left in Germany for years and presumably destroyed or thrown away, but the score survived. The actual scans of the pages are full of tears and sticky tape, and I wanted them to look perfect, so that the damage didn't interfere with the music. Also, most of the pages had to be split in two, since the score is portrait, as ir were, whereas KZbin is landscape, and so Friedheim's notations at the bottom of pages had to be moved in a number of cases, so that they fitted with the correct half-page. All in all, that took a great deal of editing in Adobe Photoshop, but it's very satisfying work, since the underlying performance is the nearest we shall get to Liszt himself. The toning (voicing) of the piano is down to Denis Hall, its owner, whose sensitivity and knowledge with regard to historic pianists are a result of a lifetime's passion . It's a Steck grand piano, made around the time of the First World War in Gotha, in eastern Germany. It looks about the size of a Steinway 'B', but the player piano spoolbox uses up space at the front of the case, so the size of the actual piano is more akin to an 'A'. I keep telling people that humanity remembers its history as a series of fairy tales, so that we get further from the truth as the centuries roll by. I think the toning of pianos is one small example of that. Tastes have changed, and "authentic" instruments are built to conform to a visual, rather than an audible fidelity. In the case of player pianos, most of the interest has come from collectors or professional restorers, who are much more concerned with shiny casework or digital computer analysis than with musical emotion. That contributes to the general musical amnesia. I'm not going to fling mud in public, but those who have the ears to hear will realise that the vast majority of player piano videos on KZbin are a long way from the sensitive performances that they should be. Not enough hours in the day to stave off the gradual decline!

[@zavilov]

I like the idea of musical amnesia. I have played for many years. I was fortunate enough to study with Sedmara Zakarian Rutstein a now retired professor of piano at Oberlin. She often said people do not know anything anymore and the general level of performance now is deplorable. We often talked about the older performers and what made them so singularly spectacular. These conversations led me to study many older recordings of the 20s snd 30s. One time we let several months slide by between lessons. She accused me of studying with someone else, because I had made so much progress on my own, it took quit awhile to calm her down and assure it was all her doing. Her ability to explain the mechanical apparatus to free your body to do what you wish enabled that progress. My last lesson with her was one of the both proudest and saddest days of my life. She told me I did not need her anymore and I was free to teach or be a virtuoso if I wanted. I take the occasional student, but it is frustrating trying to get people to the level where I begin to enjoy working with them on musical matters. Not many have the desire to work to that level. I comoletely

[@zavilov]

Completely understand this idea of amnesia. It certainly shows in the evolution of piano voicing. So much lost to the shellaced sounding jazz brilliance of modern taste. How can you make a proper orchestral sound on such brilliant sounding instruments. Someday, my poor old mehlin will get restrung properly, probably in time for me to have to put in a new set of hammers again.

[@pianolainstitute]

​@@zavilov There aren't so many around who both play and fit hammers! I found Sedmara Rutstein on KZbin, playing a variety of beautiful music. So far I enjoyed Kreisleriana, but the total numbers of viewers do little justice to her - that's our modern world. About five years ago I was passing through an Underground (subway) station in west London and was delighted to hear Beethoven on the public address system. I stopped and thanked one of the staff, but it turned out that they were only using it as a means of preventing young people congregating there, since they despise classical music so much.

[@zavilov]

@@pianolainstitute I played an organ recital today and all 5 of the under 25 group came to the loft afterwards to see the instrument. So perhaps there is some hope for the future. They just need the right introduction. Also for your amusement put my name into youtube and seek out the waltzes i put up or the preludes, i am curious what you might think about them. They were recorded on Horowitz's personal piano. Also you are very right about Seda, she did not have a great time with publicity once she emigrated from the soviet union.

[@thenotsookayguy]

Where would I be able to get this annotated score btw?

[@save312]

Suono limpidissimo