Arthur Friedheim (1859-1932): Chopin - Funeral March

Arthur Friedheim was a pupil of Liszt from the late 1870s, and acted as Liszt's secretary during the 1880s until Liszt's death in 1886, with daily contact and experience of all that Liszt did in that period: he is our best witness to Liszt's performance and thoughts from that time. Liszt greatly admired Friedheim's playing, declaring that his interpretation of his now famous B minor piano sonata was just as he wanted it to have been (there was a piano roll made by Friedheim of the sonata, for the Triphonola company: If anyone knows of the whereabouts of this roll I'd like to hear about it - the roll is thought lost, but if it still exists it would be one of the most important musical documents in the history of piano performance and it needs to be preserved in digital media and performance).

Friedheim's own playing was exceptionally aristocratic and elevated. There is a sense of what we now call "classicism" to his interpretations. Control, balance and concentration. The few recordings he made are fascinating.

I am also putting a few piano roll recordings of Friedheim online to give a better idea of this pianist, as the acoustic recordings stretch to so few minutes.

This recording of the Funeral March from Chopin's piano sonata no. 2 op. 35 dates from 1912/13.

• Category

  Music

[HelveteKeiser]

I looove it when the recording is OLD,and the tape makes those little noises!

[blackcorridors]

this is probably the most important upload I've seen and heard in youtube. thank you

[d60944]

It's by no means uncommon for YouTube to misidentify recordings. It's not just mine. A quick random surf brought me this: watch?v=V60USaluxGA

This is a Pollini playing the complete Chopin Nocturnes, whereas YT thinks it is Vladimir Sverdlov. Who hasn't even recorded the complete Nocturnes!

[RollaArtis]

The software isn't advanced, it just matches words like 'andante', 'concerto' etc.etc. and claims copyright on absolutely everything unless you can prove otherwise. Here it has matched 'Chopin' and 'Funeral march' with 'Horowitz' because that's all it knows. Regarding the Friedheim version, I know its genuine because I also have this CD.

[d60944]

No link to a YT video, and I don't propose to spend money! The iTunes stuff they want you to buy has a little snippet of this music available to preview (a recording from 1962 or 1963). It's very, very similar, but not identical (again, set both playing and try until you get them synchronised). I hear a distinct difference in the dotted rhythms of the melody bars at the very end of the short iTunes sample: Horowitz is playing them more dotted than Friedheim (who almost makes triplets of them).

[AgnusDei12345]

There's a link to a matching performance under your likes/dislikes option.

[d60944]

Can you link to a matching Horowitz performance on YouTube please?

[AgnusDei12345]

It's fake. It was added in post production to hide the fact that this is a Horowitz performance

[AgnusDei12345]

What you are hearing is a distortion of the music; the result of the thick sound filter that was added to make the piece sound old. I don't know if you added the filter or if you've been duped by someone who convinced you this was Freidhelm, but I converted the file you uploaded to an mp.3, imported it to Avid MC, and compared it to the recording I own of Horowitz, and they are exactly the same. I then uploaded the file onto youtube, and received a third party match which confirmed my suspicion

[d60944]

Incidentally, YouTube is also misidentifying my Emil von Sauer performance of Chopin's Berceuse as being played by Alfred Cortot.

Both of Friedheim's takes of the funeral march have been released on CD transfers from Pearl, so the only 100% way to satisfy yourself would be to acquire them and listen. You can hear an excerpt from the other take he made here though: allmusic.com /album/the-pupils-of-liszt-jos­%C3%A9-vianna-da-motta-arthur-­friedheim-mw0001869346

[d60944]

The performances are not identical. I was intrigued by the similarity now you mentioned it. But when one is set playing simulataneously with the other the differences are fairly easy to hear, both in tempo and in the extra bass notes Horowitz seems to sometimes use. In general I think Horowitz is a little more theatrical with the music.

[AgnusDei12345]

That's interesting, then why does it say "Vladmire Horowitz" in the artist copyright section below the likes/dislike?