Anna Yesipova plays Verdi-Liszt

Verdi-Liszt "Rigoletto" Fantasy Paraphrase
Recorded in 1906
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From Russian Culture Navigator: Bernard Shaw wrote after one of Yesipova's London concerts that her cold disdain for difficulties, the incredible fluency of her fingers, her graceful and haste-free manner of playing, devoid of sentimentality - all that commanded admiration. Esipova's brilliant technique put her in on row with such virtuoso pianists as Anton and Nikolai Rubinshtein, Hans Bulow, Ignacy Paderewski, Josef Hofmann and Clara Schumann. If Anna's father cared to think at all about his daughter's musical future, he must have imagined her as a singer rather than a musician. In her early years she revealed an extraordinary gift for music and a infallible memory. At 7, having heard a piece at a concert, she could repeat it at home with a high degree of exactitude. Above all, she was very fond of singing. However, when she was at a proper age to learn to play the piano, no serious steps were taken. It was not until she turned 13 that Anna got enrolled into the St.-Petersburg Conservatory. Her professor was Alexandr Valluan (Alexandre Villoing), the celebrated teacher of the Rubinshtein brothers. The Polish pianist Theodor Leschetizky, who was working at the Conservatory at the time, was the first to notice the girl's talent. Having heard her play at a public exam, he said: "This little one is possessed, she will be a great artist if she tames her nature". Several years later Leschetizky and Yesipova got married. Under her husband's influence the obstinate and self-willed Anna became more serious and persevering. Her first concerts got favorable reviews. After her debut in December 1871, composer Petr Tchaikovsky noted that Yesipova's virtuosity combined two great merits: impeccable technique and artistic maturity. Critics wrote that she had no equals in sound extraction. Ferencz Liszt was delighted by the exquisite purity and softness of her sound. He presented the young lady with his portrait. An inscription on it read: "To Annette Yesipova. November 10, 1873, Pest. Faithfully, Ferencz Liszt". Within a short period of time Yesipova gave a colossal number of concerts in Russia and Western Europe. In 1876 she receives an invitation to perform in the United States. 105 concerts in half a year! In New York alone she presents 37 programs on her favorite Steinway with which she never parts. The tour was a tremendous success. Yesipova handed out thousands of autographs. Her photos adorned shop-windows in many cities. One newspaper printed her full-size portrait with a cupid holding scores and sent it out to its subscribers. No wonder she had lots of admirers for she was not only a talented pianist, but a very attractive woman. There is a portrait at the St.-Petersburg Conservatory: Anna in an evening gown, a charming figure, proud bearing, grayish green shining eyes... Her rather extravagant clothes matched her extraordinary beauty and feminity. At her last concert in New York she appeared to the public in a star-striped costume symbolizing the American flag. During her nearly 20-year-long concert career Yesipova impressed everyone with her unrelenting stamina. Sometimes a concert lasted 4 hours. She could give two piano concerts in the company of an orchestra and a solo concert of Beethoven's works - all in one evening. Even at the present time of high velocities and the so-called strength pianism few male pianists would break a record set by this indomitable woman. Yesipova's repertoire ranged from Mozart and Beethoven to Schuman, Liszt, Rubinshtein and Arensky. She entranced everyone with her filigree performance of Chopin. The well-known Polish pianist Josef Hofmann once remarked: "I should go to Yesipova to learn to play Chopin's mazurkas". In 1893 she was offered professorship at the St.-Petersburg Conservatory. Among her students was Sergei Prokofiev. The aesthetic gap between them was enormous. To Prokofiev, who favored an entirely different approach to music, Yesipova's demands seemed hopelessly outdated. Nevertheless, her influence on the formation of Prokofiev's technique as well as on the Russian piano school in general is beyond dispute. Unfortunately, today we can judge Yesipova's performance exclusively from the reminiscences left by her contemporaries and critics and from a few recordings made with the help of a special device Welte-Mignon in 1906 .

Category:

Music

Tags:

• yesipova
• verdi
• liszt
• Welte-Mignon

[weikko79]

Hehe! Classic performance. Did you get this from the same 8-part "great pianists" anthology where I found it?

BTW, did you know that Yesipova was one of Yudina's teachers?

[truecrypt]

I have it on a very old russian made LP - "Great pianists of the past".

Somehow I suspect there is not much any teacher could do with students as Yudina or Sofronitsky.

Both were students of Leonid Nikolaev in St. Petersburg.

[paulostroff99]

In a word-awesome!

[smithsherman]

The techniques here(no longer practiced by musicians are)..each phrase has a timing &

weighting heirarchy specifically adapted to it's unique nature.Each part is broken off by varying degree from the rest in order to make

AND...EVERYTHING HAS AN EXPRESSIVE FOCUS EQUAL TO THE TECHNICAL!!!

[JeyelSchroeder]

The performance is interesting and vivid, and feels more accurate than many other Welte-Mignon reproductions, but the sound is terrible. The transients are basically missing from each note and chord. Are you sure this is what the old LP sounds like? If not, I guess you could have been slightly more careful with the digital noise reduction. Some amount of audible scratches and other noise is better than ruining the original sound.

[RollaArtis]

Interesting performance but strange acoustic - sounds like she's down a drain. I think it must be a doctored recording of a Welte Mignon piano roll, No.1083 to be precise. Presumably the LP came from the same source in Russia as the LP of Scriabin's "cylinder recordings" (also Welte rolls) which have a weird echoey quality entirely in keeping with the music.

[charburt]

It's amazing that a recording from 1906 could sound like this. This lady was magnificent. We're fortunate to hear this oh so beautiful music from her.

[j72050]

....she equals the Colossus of Rome and the Gardens of Babylon...and then some....

[acortot]

Holy Sh*t!