Strauss-Godowsky: Wine, Women & Song piano fantasy

Notes by pianist Charles Rosen:

A few years before studying with Rosenthal, I was taken to play for Leopold Godowsky, who sat me on his lap and asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. "I want to be a pianist like Josef Hoffman," was the answer, which I am told delighted Godowsky. I never heard Godowsky play, but his arrangements though rarely performed today are still famous among pianists. Those of the Strauss waltzes are technically less strenuous than Rosenthal's arrangements, but more imaginative. My favorite is the "Symphonic Metamorphosis of Wine, Women and Song". This pianistic fantasy is delightful, more in the style of Richard than Johann, but still "echt" Viennese.

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• piano
• virtuoso
• charles rosen
• transcription

[gtimny]

Absolutely fabulous playing - monster technical control of the kind Rosen is not known for anymore. He remains an amazing musician, but for those of us not old enough to have heard him in his flaming virtuoso days, this is a real treat. There is, however, a bizarrely wrong note (he plays A# instead of A on the second chord) which upsets the resolution of the cadence at 2:29. It can't be a finger slip (too easy) so he must have learned it that way, but it sounds very odd to the ear!

[BofferBings]

@gtimny I noticed that in the score and assumed it was a misprint, and that Rosen was playing it correctly. Notice the sharp in the second chord is marked on the F, which makes no sense because it is already sharp. I figured the sharp was meant to be placed on the A, and that Rosen was playing it right.

[NRob84]

Stunning playing. I'm so glad I found this recording!

[aardvaark069]

And don't forget the always colorful and imaginative Shura Cherkassky

[rvn10rvn17]

i stick with hamelin's version..

[MTabla]

Just for kicks, I created a new Pandora station using the term "Godowsky" in the hopes that I could passively listen to a smattering of virtuosic performances like this while at work. I don't know why blazing performances like this one from the likes of Rosen, Lhevinne, Wild, Lewenthal, et al, aren't on there - they make Pandora's Godowsky mix sound downright prosaic. Youtube is where it's at!

[shubus]

This is a brilliant arrangement with Rosen really working it! Great performance.

[conantwo]

Wow I really like this rendition. I'm usually not a big fan of Strauss' orchestral works, but Godowsky really makes their colors shine.

[gtimny]

@BofferBings - Oh my GOD, you (and Rosen) are right! I'm the one who learned it wrong. How embarrassing! 

[301250]

thank you bofferbings....such wonderful music played by a true virtuoso and scholar.