Alfred Grünfeld (1852-1924): Schumann - Träumerei op.15 no.7

Grünfeld was the first great pianist to make any kind of commercial recordings, which he commenced in 1899.

He left recordings of works by Bach, Chopin, Schumann, Grieg, Debussy, Liszt, Brahms and others; but Grünfeld was known primarily as a provider of light entertainment music in Vienna, and his arrangements of Strauss's music are his most famous and enduring legacy.

His expertise at performance of other more serious music is not widely appreciated: even in his own time he was deprecated as not being a performer of "serious" music. Only those who knew him best wrote of his great skill at performing the music for which he was not generally well known. He was in fact the foremost pianist in Vienna in the later 1800s and into the early 20th century.

Here I hope a few recordings may convince that this was a very fine pianist indeed, fully expressing many 19th century techniques (eg. the rubato and non-synchronisation of the hands) and expressive attitudes to the music. Note especially the very particular facility Grünfeld had at producing elegant, lilting rhythms.

This recording of Schumann's "Träumerei", no.7 from the collection of Kinderszenen (op.15) was made in 1913.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Alfred
• Grünfeld
• piano
• classical
• recording
• schumann
• Träumerei
• kinderszenen
• op.15
• no.7

[celloliscious]

This is lovely! Thank you for posting this rare gem.

[sweeetra3]

this was beautiful, I just went back in time and was part of his audience, thank you!

[gerardbedecarter]

@BachScholar ... also the arpeggiata ----  melody-delaying, melody-anticipation and arpeggiata each being a species of rubato.

[lemonangel100]

 I love this song..... makes me feel so relaxed and happy....

[DarkBloodAngelGirl]

i love it!! thank u for this historican piece..... <3

[taotepokopoko]

Maravilloso, uno de los que más me han gustado. Pondria esta versión junto a las de Kempff y Argerich. Gracias por compartirla.

[BachScholar]

Thanks for this historical recording. Notice how most of the bass and treble notes don't align, which was common practice around 1900. Nowadays though, this approach is shunned.

[armusik]

это еще раз доказывает, что дело не в инструменте и не в длине пальцев...в звук нужно верить