Liszt Sonata - Arthur Friedheim

Arthur Friedheim's rolls of the Liszt Sonata were recorded on 5 October 1905, according to the receipt date of his fee. The recording was made for Ludwig Hupfeld, a Leipzig musical businessman and instrument maker, but one cannot really connect it to any particular instrument within the Hupfeld stable. Until the Leipzig Fair in the late summer of 1905, Hupfeld's main player instrument was the foot-pedalled Phonola, also known overseas as the Claviola, which was launched with a 72-note range, from low to high F, thus beating the Aeolian Company's Pianola, which had only 65 notes at its disposal.
Back in 1905 there were no dynamics, other than those that were created by the Phonolist's feet, though gradually over the next year Hupfeld's piano recordings began to be available for its first expression piano, the Phonoliszt, which was very restricted by having only three dynamic levels across the whole piano, plus pedals. In April 1906 Grieg noted in his diary that he had recorded for the Phonolist (sic), but the general catalogue of the Phonola remained the one that listed its rolls in the nearest relationship to the dates of recording.
Hupfeld's first full reproducing piano, the Dea, was not introduced until late 1907, and it increased the playback capacity to 85 notes, but whether the Hupfeld recording instrument (which marked up blank music rolls with note traces) was capable of recording all 85 is not clear. It may have been, but more research is needed on whether musical editors expanded 73-note recordings to 85 and thereby made occasional errors.
The two musicians who acted at that time as music producers for Hupfeld's rolll recordings were Ferdinand Karoly (1878-1942), a former Phonola demonstrator who left a copious diary of a trip to Australia in 1905/6 in order to help sell the Claviola, and who seems finally to have been killed in one of the Nazi death camps, and Frédéric François Prokesch, who organised Hupfeld's Paris recording sessions in 1908, and who can also be seen in some of the Leipzig photos.
The recording engineer who operated the marking machine for Friedheim's photographed recording session (not shown in this video because its copyright belongs to the University of Leipzig), was clearly Ludvik Bajde, a Slovenian whose father, Ivan, was responsible for creating the first lifelike keyboard-played violin, which formed the basis of Hupfeld's later Phonoliszt-Violina, a combination of player piano and violin driven by music rolls, and an instrument that has almost certainly never played as musically as when it was new! When Hupfeld effectively ran out of capital in the 1930s, Ludvik Bajde joined the chorus of the Leipzig Opera and often took minor solo roles as well.
With the publication of this video, there are now three versions of Friedheim's Liszt recording on KZbin, all taken from the later transcription to Hupfeld 88-note Animatic rolls. They are easily to be found via the search box. This one was first recorded in 2011, but I hesitated to release it, because I wanted to do better with a larger dynamic range. But a nasty skirmish with what appeared to be a terminal illness changed my mind for me in April of this year (2021). So I have cleaned it up, posted most of Friedheim's own annotated score, plus one or two suitable photographs, and it can now take its chances in the musical world.
My feeling with Liszt's Sonata, like the music of many composers, is that it tends to be inspired by experiences in the composer's personal life, rather than the dramatic legends for which audiences sometimes crave. Liszt had his fair share of the young ladies, in an age when their parents were actually quite keen to foster such associations, and the slow movement abounds with perceived male and female responses. There is perhaps the idea of a hero springing forth at the start, and at the very end there is an old man looking back, especially with the quiet ending that Liszt substituted for the original later in his life.
The further we go back in history, the less accurately we can define the truth, which in a way becomes a series of fairy tales. This roll recording has been through many hands, some more musical than others. My contribution can only be to play as sympathetically as possible, and I've erred on the side of gentleness, partly because I feel that way, and partly because I think that is how Liszt was feeling. The photo of Friedheim at the Duo-Art recording piano gives a better impression of his thoughtfulness in playing, whereas the Hupfeld photo is simply a formal shot with everyone staring at the camera.
Remember that recorded piano rolls are portraits, not photographs. They can express great beauty, but they cannot be used to assert that Liszt or Friedheim played at.some exact speed or dynamic intensity. And don't set the volume too loud!
Rex Lawson

[@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

[@AdamRamet]

PURE AWESOMENESS!

[@gerardbedecarter]

Thanks, Rex, for this wonderful presentation.

[@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!

[@ValzainLumivix]

Nice

[@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.

[@save312]

Suono limpidissimo

[@thenotsookayguy]

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