Alfred Reisenauer (1863-1907): Chopin-Liszt - Maiden's WIsh

Alfred Reisenauer was a significant pupil of Franz Liszt. However, the fact that he left no acoustic recordings has meant that he has tended to be forgotten today. He was in fact one of the most important pianists of his time, accalimed both as teacher and performer, achieving directorship of the Leipzig Conservatoire.

The only remaining recorded documents of his playing are ten piano rolls recorded for the Welte system in 1905.

This work is one of Liszt's arrangements of a Chopin Song (the "Chants Polonaises"), no.1 entitled "The Maiden's Wish". Reaisenauer signs off this roll as "Nach persönlichen Erinnerungen an Franz Liszt" (i.e. "From personal memory of [the playing of] Franz Liszt"), and is meant to show how Liszt performed this work.

Some technical info: this roll was played back not on a real piano, but is a digitised playback on a sampled Steinway piano made from a digitally encoded transcription of the original roll (all the dynamics, articulation, pedalling, and so on is unchanged from the original roll, and there has been no "editing" of it). This is something I am experimenting with doing at the moment and I am quite pleased with this result in general. However, perhaps this roll needs slightly more work at me getting the sonorities right, as it still sounds slightly midi-ish to my ear at least. The roll also seems to display a large degree of the rhythmic "bumpiness" which plagues many Welte rolls. What is obvious is that the performance employs a great deal of rubato which is quite alien to modern approaches. A decent playback of a good quality roll on a well-conditioned piano would create a better impression than I have done here I feel, as the piano sonority and internal resonances would help to make sense of it.

Finally, the picture used in this video is the only shot I could find of Reisenauer. He is marked on the photo seated amongst some of Liszt's other pupils. Front row - Saul Liebling, Alexander Siloti (holding the Dante Symphony), Arthur Friedheim, Emil (not quite yet 'von') Sauer, Alfred Reisenauer. Alexander W. Gottschalg Back row - Moriz Rosenthal, Viktoria Drewing, Mele Paramanoff, Liszt, Friedheim's mother, Hugo Mansfeld (also with the Dante Symphony!)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Alfred
• Reisenauer
• classical
• piano
• recording
• roll
• welte
• liszt
• chopin
• chant
• polonaise
• maiden
• wish
• op.74

[marcxopoco]

He adds his own cadenzas and another entire variation.

I doubt that the accompaniment of the main theme was that loud when he played it.

[TuboEspectador]

@voolare I have heard Alfred Reisenauer playing Schumann's Carnaval "Portrait of Chopin" on Tushinsky's "Keyboard Immortals" program, and it wasn't any midi conversion.

I think this was a good attempt by someone who is learning through tinkering. I hope the person who uploaded this will find the roll of "Portrait of Chopin" :)

[voolare]

midi conversions should be' banned

[gerardbedecarter]

Thanks for uploading!

[thailagenz84]

*---------*

[joesubaruson]

Lack of pedal makes this recording crystal clear. I started doubting if my Ricordi edition was really written down by Liszt. Printed versions are just bones of what the master wanted to hear. I wonder why great performance like this had been forgotten for decades. This player has a superb sense of rubato, obvious from how he introduces the theme. Plsh mezzos R glorious, but he shows the piano is never an inferior instrument. I hope d60944 will dig up, post more Liszt and Theo schools rolls.

[pianolasociety]

the problem with midi conversions of piano rolls is that the rolls contain the data stating the start time of the piano action and mechanism. Midi notes, by contrast, record the moment of the sound itself. Player rolls are programmed so that notes strike at different speeds (creating dynamics) and this give a jerky sound if translated direct to midi. In Welte rolls louder notes are retarded as they fly forward at a greater speed to coincide with earlier (slower playing) softer notes.

[ReturnOfTheStienway]

Badass! I loved this

[aardvaark069]

Interesting and instructive personal effects. Pretty wretched roll as far as dynamics and rythm ore concerned.

[NOSEhow2LIV]

Well,interesting,certainly,but­, for me,as usaul hte jreky atcion fo teh ogirinl menakissm dfeteas het mucisal idae. The variants are interesting once one gets used to the roller-coaster effect. Thanx!