Chopin Waltz Op 70 No 1 and Ecossaise No 3 Pachmann .

One of the most prominent figures in the ranks of the golden age" instrumentalists was Vladimir de Pachmann. Born in 1848 at Odessa - home of so many great musicians - he studied under Joseph Dachs in Vienna. His earliest noeworthy pro-fessional engagements took place in 1869, when he made a tour of Russia. But Pachmann was dissatisfied with his abili-ties and went into retirement for eight years of intensive study. Then he emerged for a short tour of Europe, which took place in 1877, and soon achieved a considerable reput-ation; this was maintained for many years, for he continued to give recitals until his old age. He died in Rome in 1933. Pachmann stands apart from the mainstream of piano virtuosi who were his contemporaries in that whereas most of them were disciples of Liszt. Pachmann was never seriously influenced by him. His small and delicate build made him ill-suited to the sheer physical demands of the more grandiose and bombastic creations of the period, and his mental make-up made it hard for him to grasp the architectual structure of the more extended works, such as the sonatas of Beethoven. Pachmann wisely concentrated instead on the 'jeu perle' - the sheer beauty of tone, delicacy of phrasing and infinitely subtle gradations of dynamics which came naturally to him and which he brought to a high point of perfection. He was the perfect miniaturist and an ideal exponent of the works of Chopin, with whom he identified himself closely, the light-ness of his touch and the beauty of the quieter passages in his performances caused him to be called not pianist but 'pianissimist'. Pachmann was the product of no discernible school of musical thought, nor did he found any tradition of performance. Although he claimed to play Chopin's works the way the composer himself would have played them, he did not repres-ent any authentic tradition of how Chopin should be played. Pachmann cannot be pigeonholed; he was quite simply Pachmann, a highly individual artist who by developing the gifts that were most natural to him and keeping to the music that was best suited to those gifts, achieved performances of rare perfection. Pachmann is remembered not only as a great pianist but also as a great eccentric. His tendencies (which increased as the years went by) to treat his audiences to little discourses on often irrelevant subjects, not only before and after but even during his performances, endeared him to the public and did much to distract the less perceptive of them from noticing the deficiencies in his playing as age crept on. His rituals of adjusting the piano stool and causing the piano to be shifted around the platform until it was positioned to his liking are also legendary, and were the reason why a leading American critic dubbed him "the Chopinzee". Other tales give us the flavour of the man yet more distinctly. On a visit to England, asked by reporters what he thought of London, the great man replied: "Zat is not ze question, Madarne. Ze question is vat do London zink of Pachmann?" During a concert by Godowsky, he leaped on to the platform, took charge of the piano, and proceeded to demonstrate to a delighted audience -and an enraged Godowsky - just how he thought a certain passage should be played. Pachmann is also known to have considered himself Liszt's superior as a pianist, and was said to solemnly dip each finger in brandy before recitals. Pachmann's antics undoubtedly amused his audiences and also helped to keep his name to the fore. But, now he is gone he must take his place in musical history on the merits of his art alone. And as anybody who listens to these recordings will discover, these are very considerable.
Geoffrey Howard

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Chopin
• Waltz
• Op
• 70
• No
• and
• Ecossaise
• Pachmann