RE: [F_minor] The re-recording....

["Cline, Eric" <Eric.Cline@reichhold.com>]

A few years back the Kaplan foundation issued a CD containing recordings on
a modern Steinway of the four piano rolls that Gustav Mahler made of some of
his music. Three of the works Mahler performed were of his lieder, the last
one was his own transcription of the first movement of his 5th symphony. The
lieder were performed first without the vocalist and then performed with a
living soprano. The performance even captured Mahler's finger slips on the
piano. This is not an aspect of the machine I think Gould would have
appreciated. No "take-two-ness" allowed.

I was struck by how much faster the tempi were than modern performances
today. In fact when I listen to performances by Rachmaninov, Schnabel,
Hoffman etc from the 1920's and 1930's tempi are usually much faster than
modern performances. It was interesting to listen to the Schnabel recordings
of the Beethoven piano sonatas. In many of the performances I am reminded of
Glenn Gould's own recordings of the Beethoven sonatas. Didn't a critic once
comment that he thought Gould's performance of Beethoven's 4th concerto
sounded just like Schnabel's style of performance? Although there are
differences, I do see a resemblance from time to time.  

Eric Cline
Sr. Synthesis Chemist
Reichhold, Inc
P.O. Box 13582
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709
USA
Toll Free:       +1 800 448 3482
Office Phone: +1 919 990 8116
Fax:              +1 919 767 8506
e-mail:           eric.cline@reichhold.com
Website:        www.Reichhold.com
          
 

-----Original Message-----
From: f_minor-bounces@email.rutgers.edu
[mailto:f_minor-bounces@email.rutgers.edu] On Behalf Of Robert Merkin
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 8:54 PM
To: musical mat; F_MINOR@EMAIL.RUTGERS.EDU
Subject: RE: [F_minor] The re-recording....

It's been done before (and mentioned on F_minor). 

Around 1905, a German engineer, Weldt, designed a roll-cutting piano and
playback machine intended to perfectly capture and reproduce a pianist's
nuance of finger and foot. It worked sublimely, but was far too expensive,
and mechanically fragile, to compete with the "ordinary" player piano, which
can't reproduce the player's finger or foot pressures. (That dates from
about 1840.)

When the player hit a key, the key plunged a carbon rod down into a trough
of liquid mercury, and the depth of the plunge determined the voltage output
signal -- tiny, but reliably amplifiable. This signal controlled the roll
cutter. The pedals also plunged carbon rods into mercury troughs.

Though the party ended when World War One broke out, for about 15 years
Weldt kept his fragile piano-roll-cutter in a castle on the Rhine, and
invited Europe's finest pianists and piano-playing composers to hang out
rent-free and cut a roll whenever the spirit moved them. Quite a large and
remarkable treasury of their perfectly-captured performances managed to
survive two world wars.

Playback was on a robot called a Vorsetzer (I guess "thing that sits in
front"). It was a set of 88 robot fingers and 3 robot feet which could play
the keyboard of any piano it was rolled up to. A set of modern hi-fidelity
LP recordings around 1960 used a Steinway in an audio studio in Los Angeles.
They were issued as "Legendary Recordings of the Great Piano Masters" (or
some such hifalutin title) by the Book-of-the-Month-Club. 

The book that came with them contains a quote from the young (but already
famous) Glenn Gould, who marvelled at the difference between these
interpretations, and the interpretations taught as historically authentic in
modern conservatories. Some Weldt interpretations of 18th century classics
contain traditional echoes of interpretations that date to Mozart's time --
in other words, there are hints in the Weldt performances of the actual way
pianists of Mozart's day interpreted the works.

While Weldt transcribed these performances, ordinary phonograph recording
was in its horribly squawky infancy. But these performances managed -- by
several miracles of history, research and loving preservation -- to leapfrog
a half-century of time. If anyone's come across these recordings re-issued
on CD, I'd love to buy them.

Bob

> [Original Message]
> From: musical mat <wicks_m@hotmail.com>
> To: <f_minor@email.rutgers.edu>
> Date: 9/20/2006 7:42:48 PM
> Subject: [F_minor] The re-recording....
>
> Hey all,
>  
>      Being a pianist and all, I'm just curious how in the world they can
reproduce the same kind of piano key touch.  I mean, the timing, and notes,
I can understand, but how the touch?  Any one???
>  
> >From a pianist.  
> Wicks
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