Liszt Piano Sonata Monographs - Arthur Friedheim's Recently Discovered Roll Recording

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Franz Liszt completed his Piano Sonata in B Minor at Weimar in 1853. It met with a mixed reception from the musical establishment of the day but is now a part of the repertoire of every leading pianist and may even be the most frequently recorded and performed piano work ever written. It is the outstanding example of the compositional process of thematic transformation. The grandeur and lyrical power of its themes, based on three motifs so clearly stated at the outset, place it at the pinnacle of the piano literature.

Wensleydale Press has launched a series of Liszt Piano Sonata Monographs on special aspects of musicological interest. Each monograph upholds the best traditions of modern musicological scholarship while presenting the contents in an attractive way for the general reader.

The first monograph, published in the (northern) autumn of 2010, discusses in detail the Hupfeld piano roll recording of the Sonata performed by Arthur Friedheim. For many years the roll was believed to have been lost or destroyed but in March 2010 it turned up in a private collection in New York. Arthur Friedheim studied the Sonata with Franz Liszt who said of his concert performance, 'that is how I thought the composition when I wrote it!' The only other recording of the Sonata by a Liszt pupil that has come down to us is that of Eugen d'Albert but he seems never to have actually studied it with Liszt himself. (Liszt pupil Josef Weiss recorded the Sonata but enquiries to-date have failed to reveal any trace of the roll.) It follows that the Friedheim roll is an epoch-making find for scholars and performers.

The first monograph discusses: * Friedheim's performances * Friedheim's piano roll * Melody-delaying and arpeggiata * Friedheim amalgam * Other harmonic changes * Other textual changes * Final bar * Tempos and metronome markings * Stylistic freedom * Pedalling * Dynamics * Recitatives * Phonola range analysis * Musical aesthetic * Traditions * Timeline of performances, editions, books, recordings and events * Excerpts from Hupfeld catalogues * Tempo comparison (Friedheim vs. Brendel, Stradal and d'Albert) * Timing comparison (Friedheim vs. Brendel)


About the authors:

Gerard Carter is the author of four books on the Liszt Sonata and has produced CDs of historic recordings as well as of his own performance. Gerard studied the Sonata with Eunice Gardiner when he was a pupil at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Miss Gardiner had taken lessons from Claudio Arrau, which makes Gerard a great- great- grand pupil of Franz Liszt. Gerard holds the associate diploma in music (piano performing) and is a graduate in economics and law from the University of Sydney.

Martin Adler has a doctorate of natural sciences from the University of Marburg and runs an internet consultancy in Bonn where he lives with his wife and their three children. Martin has had an ever-growing fascination for the Liszt Sonata since he first heard it as a youth. He has studied it with his teacher Nelly Moser, who was a student at the St Petersburg Conservatory in the classes of the legendary pedagogues Emmanuel Fischmann and Vladimir Nielsen.

Contact: info@lisztsonata.com

Please visit lisztsonata.com again soon to find out how to buy your copy.

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[pianolaunderground]

I also have the complete 2-roll set of these rolls - I was unaware that they were "lost" LOL. The performance data was captured full-scale for use with the Phonoliszt expression piano scale and latterly for the DEA reproducing piano. The performances were also issued for the Phonola 72-note scale Solodant "Meisterspiel Phonola" instruments and their 88-note post-1910 equivalent the 88-note Solophonola piano ranges. My records indicate that a Triphonola version of this piece was issued :)

[martinadler73]

@pianolaunderground Now that we have published our monograph about this roll set, every now and then someone notices that he has it in his collection, but before this it was really "lost" to scholarly access. Good we have it back. It was issued for many Hupfeld systems, but seems to have been recorded originally for the 73 note "Phonola" between 1905 and 1907.

[pianolaunderground]

@martinadler73 most likely scenario it was recorded for Hupfeld's DEA system which is wider than 73. Hupfeld did do press-releases when they captured important performances so do have a close look through "Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau". We are making a website listing all the known available Hupfeld material that we have access to to assist musicologists. I have put in place a plan to record the complete Sonata on a Bluthner Hupfeld grand in January 2012 and put it online immediately.

[martinadler73]

@pianolaunderground Our analysis shows that it was most likely recorded for the 73 Phonola. A missing entry for the Sonata played by Friedheim in the 1924/25 DEA catalogue corroborates this. The same catalogue lists 14 other rolls played by him. Please leave me a note when your website and recording are ready - most fascinating! A recording on a Blüthner would be wonderful - the same brand on which Friedheim most likely recorded the Sonata. If I recall correctly he loved the Blüthner sound.

[gerardbedecarter]

@pianolaunderground .... I join in Martin's request for a YouTube posting of a recorded playback of the Friedheim Liszt Sonata rolls on a Hupfeldt vorsetzer or a Hupfeldt Solophonola. Many thanks in anticipation!!

[martinadler73]

@pianolaunderground Do you have such an original Hupfeld Vorsetzer? Could you maybe post a recording of the rolls played back at constant "Tempo 50"? This would be wonderful!

[pianolaunderground]

@martinadler73 to plays these rolls properly you do really need a genuine Hupfeld vorsetzer or a Hupfeld Solophonola no matter what anyone else tells you. The marked roll tempos relate only to the speed regulators on a Hupfeld which are different to all other players. The rolls are designed for Hupfelds which have regulators different to other systems.

[martinadler73]

@PaulBartonPiano

Dear Paul, yes Friedheim is really a phenomenon and one of the last fighters for the Liszt cause after Liszt's death in 1886. Friedheim's interpretation of the Sonata has not been released yet, we used a preliminary recording of it that captured everything important for our research, but is not yet final in terms of recording quality and instrument tuning/voicing. As soon as we have a recording fit for release, we will inform you immediately. I can hardly wait for it either!

[PaulBartonPiano]

I've heard other recordings by Arthur Friedheim's and they are sensational. I can relate to your passion for this discovery. I can't get hold of Gerard's books in Thailand unfortunately, but have very much liked the online things by him I've read. The Liszt sonata is one of my favorite piano works, I'm longing to hear A.F.'s interpretation, is this going to be made public any time soon ... perhaps it has already?

[martinadler73]

@PhillipLWilcher

That's exactly what I think about Gerard's style. I feel deeply honoured to have the opportunity to work with him as co-author on our Liszt Piano Sonata Monograph series.