@@russellthompson9271 ua-cam.com/video/DMJwfIxFWhw/v-deo.html Don't pay any attention to the so-called audio of Liszt "playing,' it's obviously fake, and so is the voice. But we still have the footage. :)
@@davisatdavis1 That video is fake. There is no known footage before the year 1888 and Liszt died in 86. I even commented a while ago and it got removed. The audio might be real though since that technology was available then. But if I remember correctly, Liszt didn’t like the idea of audio recording so it’s a small chance that is the real audio recording.
@@davisatdavis1The footage is fake, It's actually a scene from a hungarian show called liszt ferenc. There is no footage or recordings of liszt as far that we know.
I really love this guy. The "splashing" in the 2nd Impromptu of Chopin heard here, is a tradition that enables voice leading to be heard better, when not played all together.
Superb! What a treat to see Pachmann, even if silent -- and with Pachmann's own inimitable recording of Chopin's Impromptu in F-Sharp -- this very recording was the first by Pachmann I ever heard, and fell in love with his playing immediately, some 45+ years ago as a child. Some of his later recordings are kind of sad, but when he was in good condition, his delicate expression and pristine rubato remain unmatched. To think that he was born the year Chopin died! Thanks for this!
Pachmann made a lot of money on his concerts and he spent them on his other great passion: diamonds and other precious stones - and - like Liberace, many years later - he would bring them on to the stage and show them to the audience. But when he had shown them and the audience had acknowledged their beauty, he would tell them, that they would now forget all about them, for when he played they would experience colors far more beautiful than what they had just seen. Molto Bello!!! Thank you!
At one concert Pachmann deliberately ran into a struggle with the stool. He fiddled with the screws - raising it and then lowering it until he gave up, rushed into the wings and came back with a large book. That didn't work either, so Pachmann tore out one single page and sat down - Ahh - now he was comfortable. (This trick was one that Victor Borge borrowed much later). Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
So while Schoenberg and others were laughing at him, the professionals and his colleagues remembered him as a great pianist - a miniaturist - like Joseffy - but a true virtuoso, being almost unsurpassed in the nocturnes of Chopin. Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
Once during a London recital Pachmann crouched over the keyboard trying to hide his hands while playing one of his great stunts: Chopin's Minute Waltz arranged in thirds. And then he said to the audience. Vy do I do zis? - because I zee in ze owdience mein alte freund Moritz Rosenthal, and I doon't want him to copy my fingering. Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
Nine years ago @pianolainstitute posted to here this following: "Just to set the record straight, the original nitrate film was kept by Reginald Reynolds, the Aeolian Company's Duo-Art recording producer in London, who appears in the film. When Reynolds died in the 1950s, it ended up with his daughters, latterly the younger one, Yvonne Hinde-Smith. Yvonne passed it to the Player Piano Group, and Gerald Stonehill arranged for several copies to be made, and so it has survived. The original film is silent, and the order of the scenes is different." And by it, the record was set straight, though as-of-then not yet quite complete. This I will attempt, where it left-off . . . The mentioned original nitrate this writer obtained from the PPG through the good offices of Mr. Stonehill. This would have been around the mid-Seventies, perhaps a bit earlier. I cannot now recall how I caught-wind of it's availability, but I had. After settling on a price, by special air-freight it was shipped to Los Angeles where I was residing at that time. I knew that nitrate could be a dangerous thing, so when I received it I refrigerated it. Soon after I explored the possibility of having it copied. (I'd NOT been told that it had already been-so in England.) Here again I cannot recall just how I came to discover that the son of no-less-than Richard C. Simonton himself -- Richard C. Simonton Jr. -- was THE go-to-guy for the very best nitrate transfer work to be had in all of Hollywood! At this I was surprised and giddily-delighted, as the Simontons as I knew had been (and are-still) known for having been instrumental in the obtaining and preservation of a great clutch of German Welte-Mignon record rolls, many being those most rare and desired "white-lined-masters." (These now being in the care/custody of USC at Los Angeles.) By phone contact I made an appointment to meet the younger Simonton at their family home in Toluca Lake, I think it was. When there finally, after some mutual introductions, for inspection he proceeded to load my nitrate into his special 35mm projector (which I assume to have been equipped with interchangeable proportional sprocket sets -- this so as to compensate for any nitrate shrinkage where found), attended to adjustments and then, proceeded to project de Pachmann and Reginald Reynolds onto his theater screen, in absolutely crystal-clear life-sized imagery!! It was astounding as an experience to witness this. THERE he was, the tiny gnome-pianist of greatest fame, along with the distinguished Mr. Reynolds of Aeolian. This nitrate, uncharacteristically as luck does sometimes have it, was found in superb condition, having suffered no detectable deterioration at all. (Apparently, Mr. Reynolds' closet was THE perfect environment for such a preservation.) The two of us settled on a price for his services and soon after I took my leave. A few weeks later I returned with checkbook in-hand, paid for the 35mm negative transfer and that was that. The next task was to have that reduced to something projectable, namely a 16mm double-sprocket silent positive. This was to prove the easy and quick part though strangely, more costly than Mr. Simonton's specialist service. Only a few days later, with the 16mm in-hand, I was to first see the result compliments of the Genesis Record Co. at Santa Monica. Again it proved a fine, splendid thing to view only en miniature, as compared to the life-sized experience I'd had at Toluca Lake. What became of the Nitrate? Once again having forgotten the linkage, I found that Frank Adams (a famous dealer and connoisseur of automatic musical instruments located at Seattle in Washington State) was interested in it's purchase. A deal was made; I was paid and off it went northward. That was the last of it that I know about. Not too long ago Mr. Adams died so, with his demise any traces of it's present whereabouts seem to have vanished. The 35mm negative and 16mm positive I possess-still. To-date, as I am familiar with it, that is the end of the story. From what I have observed as seen from here-and-there, the London transfer, clarity-wise, does leave something to be desired. . : .
Indeed during his prime Pachmann gained the respect not only of Godowsky but also that of Liszt, and many other great pianists. At his best he had a wonderful singing tone, a completely natural ability to turn a phrase and a sound instinct for musical form (and with the years a strange technique - playing with his hands flat - as seen on the picture above). Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
Just to set the record straight, the original nitrate film was kept by Reginald Reynolds, the Aeolian Company's Duo-Art recording producer in London, who appears in the film. When Reynolds died in the 1950s, it ended up with his daughters, latterly the younger one, Yvonne Hinde-Smith. Yvonne passed it to the Player Piano Group, and Gerald Stonehill arranged for several copies to be made, and so it has survived. The original film is silent, and the order of the scenes is different.
When he heard that a chair for music critics at some English university he proposed that it should be an electrical one. Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
Pachmann was of the most enigmatic pianists ever - and often misunderstood because of the way he acted and played during his final years. Molto Bello!!Thank you for sharing this video.
This is the Reginald Reynolds film, the UK Aeolian Company pianola demonstrator and Duo-Art recording assistant. Nice to see it with music. It's thought the film was a UK Aeolian promotional & may have had synchronized sound. Whilst it's pre-Vitaphone there were other early systems in use in the UK at the time so it is all quite possible. Aeolian had a sound department in the UK also (Aeolian Vocalion). Who knows, one day the soundtrack may surface!
Then came his debut and extensive tours - until suddenly he came to hear Liszt's greatest pupil ever, Carl Tausig playing in person. For Pachmann this came as a chock and realizing his own limitations he withdrew from the public for 6 years trying to perfect his art. Molto Bello!!Thank you for sharing this video.
There was no need to pity the old man - he was not a pathetic character whose actions were determined by some kind of dementia. He knew very well that he could no longer compete with the great and decided to make the most out of it. Any way he had always had something of a Victor Borge in him and in fact Borge borrowed some of his best tricks. Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
Most of the time was spent in Italy including one year in Florence where he worked with Vera Kologrivoff Rubio (1816-1880) who had been Chopin's last assistant, and she imparted upon him the style that had been Chopin's own. Thus he was able to return to the concert platform in 1882 (Budapest) now hailed as a true virtuoso. Molto Bello!!Thank you for sharing this video.
ut Pachmann got his own laughs. At a concert he suddenly pulled out a sock and told the audience that it was one of Chopin's socks - knitted by George Sand. And then he hung it on the piano for the rest of the recital. Harold C. Schoenberg tells this story but he forgot to tell the rest of it: the next day a journalist visited the pianist and they had a hearty laughter together when Pachmann told him, that - of course - the sock was his own. Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
He was born in Odessa, Russia in 1848 and such was his talent that he was sent to Vienna to study with Tausig's pupil Joseph Dachs and at the same time he took lessons in theory with Anton Bruckner. Molto Bello!!Thank you for sharing this video.
Vladimir Pachmann (1848-1933) was the first great pianist to come out of Odessa. In 1925 he was well past his prime but as immodest as ever, saying: "If God played the piano, he wouldn't play it much better than I do."
I didn't know this was from the piano roll, thanks for that information. I have collected every collection of Pachmann's performances I could find, from the LP days, and treasure nearly all his performances. But, the late records when he almost seems like Fats Waller with his comedy patter during performance were the ones I thought were kind of sad. Even when aged, on good days, he was very, very good.
But - on the other hand - the same Godowsky was once asked by a colleague whether he thought it would be worth going to a recital by the elderly Pachmann, and the great pianist answered, I'll tell you, if he plays for one minute the way he used to, it will be worthwhile being miserable for the rest of the recital. Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
Performers signed their piano roles once they approved the production. There are in existence some roles of early pianists who improvised upon the piano for pracitce but never released the roles for sale.
(Pachmann would invariably talk to his audience - in his typical gibberish - before and after playing or for that matter in the middle of the piece). Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
The same with Godowsky - at a recital Pachmann rushed to the stage interrupting a piece by Chopin saying. No, no Leopold - you moost play it like zis afterwards telling the audience that he would not have given this advice to anyone, but Godowsky iz ze zecund greatest lifving pianist. In fact Pachmann claimed that Liszt after a recital had jumped to his feet and told the audience: this is the way Chopin played. Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
VLADIMIR DE PACHMANN or PACHMAN (27 July 1848 - 6 January 1933) was a pianist of Russian-German ethnicity, especially noted for performing the works of Chopin, and also for his eccentric on-stage style. Molto Bello!!Thank you for sharing this video.
But Pachmann got his own laughs. At a concert he suddenly pulled out a sock and told the audience that it was one of Chopin's socks - knitted by George Sand. And then he hung it on the piano for the rest of the recital. Harold C. Schoenberg tells this story but he forgot to tell the rest of it: the next day a journalist visited the pianist and they had a hearty laughter together when Pachmann told him, that - of course - the sock was his own. Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
I thought it might be Reginald Reynolds, the UK Duo-Art recording assistant. It's too bad that there is so little surviving official documentation of the Aeolian Co. Duo-Art system. Your website is one of the best sources of information.
1. Mr Smith, I am grateful for the existence of piano rolls by performers (and of performances) we would not otherwise have. Also, the best-recorded ones sound really great on well-maintained equipment recorded with modern techniques. The big advantage for rolls is the length of performance was not limited to around 4 minutes, like the pre-LP discs.
But don't get me wrong. I still find Harold C. Schoenberg's The great Pianists a wonderful book, but it is wise to remember the words of the great Danish cello player of the wonderful Copenhagen String Quartet, Asger Lund Christiansen who once during an interview said: Critics tend to forget, that they are not part of musical life - they are just observers. Where Sir Thomas Beecham took a far more grim view. Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
This is a wonderful film clip. I wonder if it was made by The Aeolian Co. Pachmann recorded for Aeolian Duo-Art. The Duo-Art reproducing player system was the system accepted by Steinway & Sons and was available in S&S pianos from about 1914 to 1935. The Duo-Art system was also available in Weber pianos, a very well respected brand of that time. The upright in the opening scene appears to be a Weber Duo-Art. Duo-Art was known for their extensive classical recording library.
According to Harold C. Schoenberg he was considered a buffoon and a no good piano player, unable to be taken seriously, but this is far from the truth. Schoenberg judged him by his late recordings, but they do not give any true picture of the pianist Pachmann had once been. Pachmann himself loathed his recordings and told people to buy them and smash them. Molto Bello!!Thank you for sharing this video.
Most of his colleagues got nervous ticks every time they saw Pachmann in the audience, because they never knew what might happen. At a recital where Busoni was playing, Pachmann rushed to the stage holding Busoni's arm up like a boxing referee declaring the winner - saying: Busoni grösster Bach-Spieler - Pachmann grösster Chopin-Spieler (Busoni is the greatest Bach-player - Pachmann the greatest Chopin-player). Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
well there is only one single piano roll recording i ever appreciated; that is scriabin playing his own etude op8,no12, where it's really mad and improvisatory.
I agree that the best reproduction piano equipment was quite good, but most of the earlier systems failed to record dynamics, which were often added manually later, and were quite easy to tamper with (i.e., edit), unlike all recordings up until tape editing became possible. The better acoustic recordings, in spite of the noise, are sometimes capable of expressing nuances of touch that the rolls generally miss.
During his last years Pachmann was by some considered nothing but a clown - but what is wrong both to Pachmann and to great clowns. In fact I would rather call him the Groucho Marx of the piano and that is indeed something - but of course it had nothing to do with his career as a highly respected and successful piano virtuoso years before. But he sure was funny - and people would come to his concerts just to see and hear what he would do that night. Molto Bello!!Thank you for sharing this video.
Well, I see what you mean, but I've heard few rolls where I felt the timing amounted to something truly 'expressive', when coupled with the plodding lack of dynamics. You can learn from them (by guessing at how it would have sounded), but they do not offer anything that sounds very musical in itself. Even the rhythm isn't completely picked up. They are often very choppy and uneven.
@gtimny YES - I agree - With reproducing piano performances, it's all about the condition of the reproducing piano. When well maintained (and tuned), these pianos are capable of stunning life-like performances. Another factor is the condition of the roll, which can vary depending on provenance. Most original rolls are now over 80 yrs old. There are some excellent examples of recently restored Duo-Art and Ampico reproducing piano performances on UA-cam.
3. Of course, musical taste and preference are subjective, not absolute. I love the older, freer performances, but these abound also in old discs, not just rolls. Try listening to the Josef Hoffman recordings on VAI and Marston, or the mysterious mazurka rhythms of Friedman. Contrariwise, some older performers on roll and disc were also quite metronomic.
2. But, comparing existing piano rolls with actual recorded discs by the same artists (even made during the same periods of their lives) reveals noticable differences. E.g., disc-recorded Rachmaninoff performances have much more rhythmic punch than the sonically gorgeous Window in Time stuff. Some performers sound impeccable on roll but drop notes left and right on their discs.
Oh, I see what you are referring to. No, I am well aware of the "machine age" mentality of critics and so on who prized mentronomic, accurate, fast, and unfortunately often soulless performances. It was the era that placed Toscanini above most other conductors, for example. I was referring to present-day tastes. No conflict here!
It was impossible to tamper with disc recordings. Wax cylinders could be scraped and reused, but not edited. Every disc recording until tape editing became possible represented the actual performance ("warts and all") of a living pianist for the duration of the disc. To get good performances, scrupulous players would record over and over until they had what they wanted on disc -- no editing was possible.
Mr. Ger- we all wish that you would please add some more individual comments so you then can have 100% of the comments per page and exclude all other commentators. Thank you.
4. I doubt there is a conspiracy to denigrate older performance aesthetics. Some things seem like a conspiracy because lazy critics parrot earlier opinions rather than trying to listen with fresh ears. Also, at least from many of the comments by younger people on UA-cam, it seems many people are crazy for high-speed digital dexterity, with interpretation not much a consideration -- or are the unimaginative but fast performances that abound today shaping such values?
I suspect that Pachmann became a little crazy as he got older. I've heard performances of his that I thought were wonderful, but this isn't one of them. I'm not opposed to rubato, but it has to make sense and this performance loses the thread of the melody almost immediately. He didn't always sound like this.
On the subject of piano rolls - they are often very good when produced by people who know what they're doing but in recent years the releases have been pretty bad. Listen to the 1966 Argo Lhevinne rolls - absolutely superb; then listen to the Newport Classics 1990s release of the SAME rolls - they're an appalling hack job and a slander on Lhevinne's name. Apart from other considerations (proper maintenance of the reproducer, for instance) the operator has to know and set the correct tempo.
Are you kidding? Look for the film where Rachmaninoff's piano roll of the famous prelude is put next to the audio recordings. Piano rolls are truly awful.
There are similarites of style sure, but piano rolls are totally unreliable as performances. They offer the faintest impression of the how the performance might have sounded. Listen to the lethargic plodding in the left hand. Typical piano roll sounds, without any proper voicing. There is a dead quality to the tone.
Haunting, in a way, to see footage of one of the Golden Age pianists. I wish (as do many people) we had one of these of Liszt - even silent.
Imagine how phenomenal that would be! Footage of Liszt!
@@russellthompson9271 ua-cam.com/video/DMJwfIxFWhw/v-deo.html
Don't pay any attention to the so-called audio of Liszt "playing,' it's obviously fake, and so is the voice. But we still have the footage. :)
@@davisatdavis1 That video is fake. There is no known footage before the year 1888 and Liszt died in 86. I even commented a while ago and it got removed. The audio might be real though since that technology was available then. But if I remember correctly, Liszt didn’t like the idea of audio recording so it’s a small chance that is the real audio recording.
@@davisatdavis1The footage is fake, It's actually a scene from a hungarian show called liszt ferenc. There is no footage or recordings of liszt as far that we know.
I really love this guy. The "splashing" in the 2nd Impromptu of Chopin heard here, is a tradition that enables voice leading to be heard better, when not played all together.
what a phenomenal document. another almost forgotten master from the 20th century...
Superb! What a treat to see Pachmann, even if silent -- and with Pachmann's own inimitable recording of Chopin's Impromptu in F-Sharp -- this very recording was the first by Pachmann I ever heard, and fell in love with his playing immediately, some 45+ years ago as a child. Some of his later recordings are kind of sad, but when he was in good condition, his delicate expression and pristine rubato remain unmatched. To think that he was born the year Chopin died! Thanks for this!
Pachmann made a lot of money on his concerts and he spent them on his other great passion: diamonds and other precious stones - and - like Liberace, many years later - he would bring them on to the stage and show them to the audience. But when he had shown them and the audience had acknowledged their beauty, he would tell them, that they would now forget all about them, for when he played they would experience colors far more beautiful than what they had just seen.
Molto Bello!!! Thank you!
At one concert Pachmann deliberately ran into a struggle with the stool. He fiddled with the screws - raising it and then lowering it until he gave up, rushed into the wings and came back with a large book. That didn't work either, so Pachmann tore out one single page and sat down - Ahh - now he was comfortable. (This trick was one that Victor Borge borrowed much later).
Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
So while Schoenberg and others were laughing at him, the professionals and his colleagues remembered him as a great pianist - a miniaturist - like Joseffy - but a true virtuoso, being almost unsurpassed in the nocturnes of Chopin.
Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
Priceless! Love his gesture of 'surprise' when the roll is brought to him!! WE LOVE DE PACHMANN!!!
Once during a London recital Pachmann crouched over the keyboard trying to hide his hands while playing one of his great stunts: Chopin's Minute Waltz arranged in thirds. And then he said to the audience. Vy do I do zis? - because I zee in ze owdience mein alte freund Moritz Rosenthal, and I doon't want him to copy my fingering.
Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
Yes, he was a nut. Who wouldn’t laugh?
Nine years ago @pianolainstitute posted to here this following:
"Just to set the record straight, the original nitrate film was kept by Reginald Reynolds, the Aeolian Company's Duo-Art recording producer in London, who appears in the film. When Reynolds died in the 1950s, it ended up with his daughters, latterly the younger one, Yvonne Hinde-Smith. Yvonne passed it to the Player Piano Group, and Gerald Stonehill arranged for several copies to be made, and so it has survived. The original film is silent, and the order of the scenes is different."
And by it, the record was set straight, though as-of-then not yet quite complete. This I will attempt, where it left-off . . .
The mentioned original nitrate this writer obtained from the PPG through the good offices of Mr. Stonehill. This would have been around the mid-Seventies, perhaps a bit earlier. I cannot now recall how I caught-wind of it's availability, but I had.
After settling on a price, by special air-freight it was shipped to Los Angeles where I was residing at that time. I knew that nitrate could be a dangerous thing, so when I received it I refrigerated it. Soon after I explored the possibility of having it copied. (I'd NOT been told that it had already been-so in England.)
Here again I cannot recall just how I came to discover that the son of no-less-than Richard C. Simonton himself -- Richard C. Simonton Jr. -- was THE go-to-guy for the very best nitrate transfer work to be had in all of Hollywood! At this I was surprised and giddily-delighted, as the Simontons as I knew had been (and are-still) known for having been instrumental in the obtaining and preservation of a great clutch of German Welte-Mignon record rolls, many being those most rare and desired "white-lined-masters." (These now being in the care/custody of USC at Los Angeles.)
By phone contact I made an appointment to meet the younger Simonton at their family home in Toluca Lake, I think it was.
When there finally, after some mutual introductions, for inspection he proceeded to load my nitrate into his special 35mm projector (which I assume to have been equipped with interchangeable proportional sprocket sets -- this so as to compensate for any nitrate shrinkage where found), attended to adjustments and then, proceeded to project de Pachmann and Reginald Reynolds onto his theater screen, in absolutely crystal-clear life-sized imagery!!
It was astounding as an experience to witness this. THERE he was, the tiny gnome-pianist of greatest fame, along with the distinguished Mr. Reynolds of Aeolian.
This nitrate, uncharacteristically as luck does sometimes have it, was found in superb condition, having suffered no detectable deterioration at all. (Apparently, Mr. Reynolds' closet was THE perfect environment for such a preservation.)
The two of us settled on a price for his services and soon after I took my leave. A few weeks later I returned with checkbook in-hand, paid for the 35mm negative transfer and that was that.
The next task was to have that reduced to something projectable, namely a 16mm double-sprocket silent positive. This was to prove the easy and quick part though strangely, more costly than Mr. Simonton's specialist service.
Only a few days later, with the 16mm in-hand, I was to first see the result compliments of the Genesis Record Co. at Santa Monica. Again it proved a fine, splendid thing to view only en miniature, as compared to the life-sized experience I'd had at Toluca Lake.
What became of the Nitrate? Once again having forgotten the linkage, I found that Frank Adams (a famous dealer and connoisseur of automatic musical instruments located at Seattle in Washington State) was interested in it's purchase.
A deal was made; I was paid and off it went northward. That was the last of it that I know about. Not too long ago Mr. Adams died so, with his demise any traces of it's present whereabouts seem to have vanished.
The 35mm negative and 16mm positive I possess-still. To-date, as I am familiar with it, that is the end of the story.
From what I have observed as seen from here-and-there, the London transfer, clarity-wise, does leave something to be desired.
. : .
Indeed during his prime Pachmann gained the respect not only of Godowsky but also that of Liszt, and many other great pianists. At his best he had a wonderful singing tone, a completely natural ability to turn a phrase and a sound instinct for musical form (and with the years a strange technique - playing with his hands flat - as seen on the picture above).
Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
I find not a singele mention of de Pachmann by Liszt anywhere in the vast literature and several about Liszt from de Pachmann
Just to set the record straight, the original nitrate film was kept by Reginald Reynolds, the Aeolian Company's Duo-Art recording producer in London, who appears in the film. When Reynolds died in the 1950s, it ended up with his daughters, latterly the younger one, Yvonne Hinde-Smith. Yvonne passed it to the Player Piano Group, and Gerald Stonehill arranged for several copies to be made, and so it has survived. The original film is silent, and the order of the scenes is different.
When he heard that a chair for music critics at some English university he proposed that it should be an electrical one.
Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
Pachmann was of the most enigmatic pianists ever - and often misunderstood because of the way he acted and played during his final years.
Molto Bello!!Thank you for sharing this video.
This is the Reginald Reynolds film, the UK Aeolian Company pianola demonstrator and Duo-Art recording assistant. Nice to see it with music. It's thought the film was a UK Aeolian promotional & may have had synchronized sound. Whilst it's pre-Vitaphone there were other early systems in use in the UK at the time so it is all quite possible. Aeolian had a sound department in the UK also (Aeolian Vocalion). Who knows, one day the soundtrack may surface!
Then came his debut and extensive tours - until suddenly he came to hear Liszt's greatest pupil ever, Carl Tausig playing in person. For Pachmann this came as a chock and realizing his own limitations he withdrew from the public for 6 years trying to perfect his art.
Molto Bello!!Thank you for sharing this video.
There was no need to pity the old man - he was not a pathetic character whose actions were determined by some kind of dementia. He knew very well that he could no longer compete with the great and decided to make the most out of it. Any way he had always had something of a Victor Borge in him and in fact Borge borrowed some of his best tricks.
Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
Most of the time was spent in Italy including one year in Florence where he worked with Vera Kologrivoff Rubio (1816-1880) who had been Chopin's last assistant, and she imparted upon him the style that had been Chopin's own. Thus he was able to return to the concert platform in 1882 (Budapest) now hailed as a true virtuoso.
Molto Bello!!Thank you for sharing this video.
ut Pachmann got his own laughs. At a concert he suddenly pulled out a sock and told the audience that it was one of Chopin's socks - knitted by George Sand. And then he hung it on the piano for the rest of the recital. Harold C. Schoenberg tells this story but he forgot to tell the rest of it: the next day a journalist visited the pianist and they had a hearty laughter together when Pachmann told him, that - of course - the sock was his own.
Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
He was born in Odessa, Russia in 1848 and such was his talent that he was sent to Vienna to study with Tausig's pupil Joseph Dachs and at the same time he took lessons in theory with Anton Bruckner.
Molto Bello!!Thank you for sharing this video.
Vladimir Pachmann (1848-1933) was the first great pianist to come out of Odessa. In 1925 he was well past his prime but as immodest as ever, saying: "If God played the piano, he wouldn't play it much better than I do."
I didn't know this was from the piano roll, thanks for that information. I have collected every collection of Pachmann's performances I could find, from the LP days, and treasure nearly all his performances. But, the late records when he almost seems like Fats Waller with his comedy patter during performance were the ones I thought were kind of sad. Even when aged, on good days, he was very, very good.
Pachmann also once told the audience that he was wearing Chopin's underwear!.
Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
But - on the other hand - the same Godowsky was once asked by a colleague whether he thought it would be worth going to a recital by the elderly Pachmann, and the great pianist answered, I'll tell you, if he plays for one minute the way he used to, it will be worthwhile being miserable for the rest of the recital.
Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
Performers signed their piano roles once they approved the production. There are in existence some roles of early pianists who improvised upon the piano for pracitce but never released the roles for sale.
Brilliant! Thanks for sharing this, its a gem. david
(Pachmann would invariably talk to his audience - in his typical gibberish - before and after playing or for that matter in the middle of the piece).
Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
This piano roll is playing a half step flat.I have posted Pachmann's 1923 Victor recording at the correct pitch on You Tube.
Fascinating historical footage!
The same with Godowsky - at a recital Pachmann rushed to the stage interrupting a piece by Chopin saying. No, no Leopold - you moost play it like zis afterwards telling the audience that he would not have given this advice to anyone, but Godowsky iz ze zecund greatest lifving pianist. In fact Pachmann claimed that Liszt after a recital had jumped to his feet and told the audience: this is the way Chopin played.
Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
VLADIMIR DE PACHMANN or PACHMAN (27 July 1848 - 6 January 1933) was a pianist of Russian-German ethnicity, especially noted for performing the works of Chopin, and also for his eccentric on-stage style.
Molto Bello!!Thank you for sharing this video.
i never dreamed i'd be able to see pachmann play. thank you so much. i wonder if there are any more such films of the great early pianists?
But Pachmann got his own laughs. At a concert he suddenly pulled out a sock and told the audience that it was one of Chopin's socks - knitted by George Sand. And then he hung it on the piano for the rest of the recital. Harold C. Schoenberg tells this story but he forgot to tell the rest of it: the next day a journalist visited the pianist and they had a hearty laughter together when Pachmann told him, that - of course - the sock was his own.
Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
I thought it might be Reginald Reynolds, the UK Duo-Art recording assistant. It's too bad that there is so little surviving official documentation of the Aeolian Co. Duo-Art system. Your website is one of the best sources of information.
1. Mr Smith, I am grateful for the existence of piano rolls by performers (and of performances) we would not otherwise have. Also, the best-recorded ones sound really great on well-maintained equipment recorded with modern techniques. The big advantage for rolls is the length of performance was not limited to around 4 minutes, like the pre-LP discs.
But don't get me wrong. I still find Harold C. Schoenberg's The great Pianists a wonderful book, but it is wise to remember the words of the great Danish cello player of the wonderful Copenhagen String Quartet, Asger Lund Christiansen who once during an interview said: Critics tend to forget, that they are not part of musical life - they are just observers. Where Sir Thomas Beecham took a far more grim view.
Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
This is a wonderful film clip. I wonder if it was made by The Aeolian Co. Pachmann recorded for Aeolian Duo-Art. The Duo-Art reproducing player system was the system accepted by Steinway & Sons and was available in S&S pianos from about 1914 to 1935. The Duo-Art system was also available in Weber pianos, a very well respected brand of that time. The upright in the opening scene appears to be a Weber Duo-Art. Duo-Art was known for their extensive classical recording library.
Thank you Smith & Em, love from N.Z.
According to Harold C. Schoenberg he was considered a buffoon and a no good piano player, unable to be taken seriously, but this is far from the truth. Schoenberg judged him by his late recordings, but they do not give any true picture of the pianist Pachmann had once been. Pachmann himself loathed his recordings and told people to buy them and smash them.
Molto Bello!!Thank you for sharing this video.
Not sure about his piano playing but his hand writing is superb!
Most of his colleagues got nervous ticks every time they saw Pachmann in the audience, because they never knew what might happen. At a recital where Busoni was playing, Pachmann rushed to the stage holding Busoni's arm up like a boxing referee declaring the winner - saying: Busoni grösster Bach-Spieler - Pachmann grösster Chopin-Spieler (Busoni is the greatest Bach-player - Pachmann the greatest Chopin-player).
Molto Bello!!! Thank you for sharing this video.
well there is only one single piano roll recording i ever appreciated; that is scriabin playing his own etude op8,no12, where it's really mad and improvisatory.
I agree that the best reproduction piano equipment was quite good, but most of the earlier systems failed to record dynamics, which were often added manually later, and were quite easy to tamper with (i.e., edit), unlike all recordings up until tape editing became possible. The better acoustic recordings, in spite of the noise, are sometimes capable of expressing nuances of touch that the rolls generally miss.
During his last years Pachmann was by some considered nothing but a clown - but what is wrong both to Pachmann and to great clowns. In fact I would rather call him the Groucho Marx of the piano and that is indeed something - but of course it had nothing to do with his career as a highly respected and successful piano virtuoso years before. But he sure was funny - and people would come to his concerts just to see and hear what he would do that night.
Molto Bello!!Thank you for sharing this video.
Well, I see what you mean, but I've heard few rolls where I felt the timing amounted to something truly 'expressive', when coupled with the plodding lack of dynamics. You can learn from them (by guessing at how it would have sounded), but they do not offer anything that sounds very musical in itself. Even the rhythm isn't completely picked up. They are often very choppy and uneven.
Holy bread, this turned 14 years old on YT 5 days ago 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳
@gtimny YES - I agree - With reproducing piano performances, it's all about the condition of the reproducing piano. When well maintained (and tuned), these pianos are capable of stunning life-like performances. Another factor is the condition of the roll, which can vary depending on provenance. Most original rolls are now over 80 yrs old. There are some excellent examples of recently restored Duo-Art and Ampico reproducing piano performances on UA-cam.
I need to correct my previous comment.The roll is about a quarter step flat.
3. Of course, musical taste and preference are subjective, not absolute. I love the older, freer performances, but these abound also in old discs, not just rolls. Try listening to the Josef Hoffman recordings on VAI and Marston, or the mysterious mazurka rhythms of Friedman. Contrariwise, some older performers on roll and disc were also quite metronomic.
2. But, comparing existing piano rolls with actual recorded discs by the same artists (even made during the same periods of their lives) reveals noticable differences. E.g., disc-recorded Rachmaninoff performances have much more rhythmic punch than the sonically gorgeous Window in Time stuff. Some performers sound impeccable on roll but drop notes left and right on their discs.
Does anybody know from what year this vid. was shot?
Oh, I see what you are referring to. No, I am well aware of the "machine age" mentality of critics and so on who prized mentronomic, accurate, fast, and unfortunately often soulless performances. It was the era that placed Toscanini above most other conductors, for example. I was referring to present-day tastes. No conflict here!
It was impossible to tamper with disc recordings. Wax cylinders could be scraped and reused, but not edited. Every disc recording until tape editing became possible represented the actual performance ("warts and all") of a living pianist for the duration of the disc. To get good performances, scrupulous players would record over and over until they had what they wanted on disc -- no editing was possible.
Chopin's g flat major impromptu.
Mr. Ger- we all wish that you would please add some more individual comments so you then can have 100% of the comments per page and exclude all other commentators. Thank you.
4. I doubt there is a conspiracy to denigrate older performance aesthetics. Some things seem like a conspiracy because lazy critics parrot earlier opinions rather than trying to listen with fresh ears. Also, at least from many of the comments by younger people on UA-cam, it seems many people are crazy for high-speed digital dexterity, with interpretation not much a consideration -- or are the unimaginative but fast performances that abound today shaping such values?
guess who glenn gould stole his hairstyle from?
0:48, ripresa sulle mani
Jajajaj. Why the first response have a thumb up and second (that it's exactly the same, probably just a mistake) have a thumb down.
When you say this was recorded from the roll and "not very reliable" - do you mean that the piano roll is not a reliable record of his performance?
@1:02 isn't it spooky when he gazes into the camera??
Seriously ? 😒
I suspect that Pachmann became a little crazy as he got older. I've heard performances of his that I thought were wonderful, but this isn't one of them. I'm not opposed to rubato, but it has to make sense and this performance loses the thread of the melody almost immediately. He didn't always sound like this.
On the subject of piano rolls - they are often very good when produced by people who know what they're doing but in recent years the releases have been pretty bad. Listen to the 1966 Argo Lhevinne rolls - absolutely superb; then listen to the Newport Classics 1990s release of the SAME rolls - they're an appalling hack job and a slander on Lhevinne's name. Apart from other considerations (proper maintenance of the reproducer, for instance) the operator has to know and set the correct tempo.
Too bad the film is silent.
Are you kidding? Look for the film where Rachmaninoff's piano roll of the famous prelude is put next to the audio recordings. Piano rolls are truly awful.
There are similarites of style sure, but piano rolls are totally unreliable as performances. They offer the faintest impression of the how the performance might have sounded. Listen to the lethargic plodding in the left hand. Typical piano roll sounds, without any proper voicing. There is a dead quality to the tone.