Leo Podolsky/Rachmaninoff Prelude in B minor

Add &fmt=18 to the URL to hear in stereo. New Ampico high resolution roll recorded in 1984. Podolsky was 91 when the roll was recorded. The new roll is seen throughout, with one exception, as the piano plays.
The master edit roll with each note intensity shown, and other markings, becomes visible at 2:55 to 3:25.

Every note hole for the entire roll was so marked. These decibels notations were used to assign appropriate Ampico codes. Green marker shows pump amplifier stages, and yellow shows crescendo coding in terms of decibels.

A web site gives details of this piano and has podcasts of seven other perfomances http://web.me.com/bobtaylor5/Ampico/Welcome.html

Category:

Music

Tags:

• MBSI
• AMICA
• REPRODUCING
• PIANO
• ROLL
• WELTE
• DUO
• ART
• AMPICO
• Chicago
• Sherwood
• School
• of
• Music
• Classical

[aardvaark069]

I am interested to know what Podolsky thought of this resulting reproduction.

[ampicoab]

From the time that the recordings were made until the rolls were finished, was nearly two years. Computer problems slowed the initial process. When the rolls were finally finished, Podolsky had moved from the Chicago area to California. I do believe the Southern California chapter of AMICA hosted him at a meeting and played for him the finished rolls. Not much feed back came from that meeting. I can report that I heard him play in Chicago several times and the rolls do sound like him.

[bigcity233]

BEAUTIFUL piece and M & H Ampico A. Looks like it might be an RAA. The making of "new" Ampico recordings is quite an undertaking. It's amazing how the original Ampico Co. was able to produce so many rolls back in the

20's.

[ampicoab]

The wide angle camera lens does distort a bit. The piano is actually an RCC.

[afterautism]

I was a student of his in Burbank from 1975-1983. Such a brilliant teacher and extraordinary man. I also studied with June for 11 years. I heard she passed away sometime in the early 90s. Thank you so much for sharing this. I always LOVED listening to him play, especially Rachmaninoff.

[333bailey33]

@bhchan73 I also studied with Dr. Poldolsky in Burbank, Ca. Do you know what happened to June Davison? I would have my lessons at her house.

[bhchan73]

I was one of his students (one of the last) in Southern California. I remember he was happy with the results.

[aardvaark069]

Thanks. That's a FABULOUS piano you got there. Artur Rubenstein thought that the Mason which he was given to play on during his first concert tour to America was without doubt the finest instrument that he ever played on in his entire career.

[gainweighttoday]

This piano is a beauty, and the sound... magnificent...

[NOLIFEONLYDEATH]

magnificent!

[sfatlarge]

That means, for those who don't know the letter designations, that this is a full 9 foot concert grand with the AMPICO - only a few were made, perhaps this is the only one surviving today. A magnificicent instrument...