Chas. Rosen / GG's Inventions

[aq094@lafn.org (Eugene Selig)]

Rosen is a very interesting artist. He studied with Moritz Rosenthal, a 
very "19th Century" type pianist. He obtained a PHD at Princeton in 
French Literature and is the author of at least 2 books, one particularly
scholarly, called "The Classic Style - Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven."
One reviewer called it "an incomprehensible masterpiece." He is still 
very active, performing and giving master classes. Some of his recordings 
are now out-of-print, but he was well-known for his playing of those  
"transcriptions," knuckle-busters that pay homage to his teacher's era.

I looked at my old LP copy of GG's Bach Inventions, and I will excerpt a 
few of his cover notes: "The instrument represented on this disc is a 
pre-World War II Steinway which answers to CD 318 and to which I feel a 
greater devotion than to any other piano...
The operation performed just before the sessions which produced the 
"Inventions" was so successful that we plunged joyfully into the 
recording...
our enthusiasm for the rather extraordinary sound it now possessed 
allowed us to minimuze the one minor after-effect which it had 
sustained-a slight nervous tic in the middle register which in slower 
passages can be heard emitting a sort of hiccup..."

Those of the group who were not aware of this discussion might want to 
re-assess the description of the piano as being "sick." I'm surprised the 
CD version didn't seem to include this commentary, since none of the 
postings I have read quote from it.