Welte-Mignon Piano Rolls

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Vladimir Horowitz considered his 1928 piano rolls unrepresentative of his artistry. Certainly the nature of the medium compromises the legendary pianist's singular sonority and razor-sharp projection. The main value here lies with the repertoire Horowitz never recorded elsewhere for commercial release: his own Moment Exotique, the Schubert/Liszt Liebesbotschaft, and the Liszt/Busoni Fantasia on themes from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro. --Jed Distler

Tracks:

Toccato in c: Adagio in a Roll No.4121
Figaro Fant Roll No.4128
Message Of Love Roll No.4121
Etude in F Op.10, No.8 Roll No.4130
Etude in G-flat Op.10, No.5 Roll No.4130
Mazurka in c# Op.63, No.3 Roll No.4126
Mazurka in c# Op.30, No.4 Roll No.4125
Prld in g Op.23, No.5 Roll No.4118
Moment exotique, roll No.4119

Amazon.com

Vladimir Horowitz considered his 1928 piano rolls unrepresentative of his artistry. Certainly the nature of the medium compromises the legendary pianist's singular sonority and razor-sharp projection. The main value here lies with the repertoire Horowitz never recorded elsewhere for commercial release: his own Moment Exotique, the Schubert/Liszt Liebesbotschaft, and the Liszt/Busoni Fantasia on themes from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro. --Jed Distler

Customer Reviews:

The 'frail drawing room lion' triumphs.......2003-12-29

Pray tell me, jing zhuang, what is the title of this disc? Is it 'Vladimir Horowitz in DDD'? or 'The Welte-Mignon Piano Rolls'?. Tell me too, when was the Welte-Mignon player piano cutting edge technology? You mention it yourself - 1926. Then do enlighten me on why you complain about the 'outdated machine' and imply that the DDD label is deceiving. :rolleyes:

The digital recording does its job well here - the miking is warm, intimate, and there is none of the surface noise or tape hiss associated with ADD recordings. The >sound < is immaculate. The actual >music <, however, is another thing.

Yes, the Welte-Mignon player piano had its (severe) limitations in recording nuance. The `playing' on this disc does lack inflection and might seem metronomical at times. The Bach-Busoni Adagio in A minor from the Toccata in C is a study in ponderous playing, a travesty. None of the delicate pianissimos that were a Horowitz trademark are to be found in this disc. BUT, and this is a big but, despite those technical limitations, the playing on this disc is still unmistakably Horowitzian.

The unashamedly powerful chord banging in the Mozart-Liszt Figaro Fantasy, the melodic line of the Liebesbotschaft that seems to float on forever, the incredible display of technique in the Chopin F major Etude, all these are just as much Horowitzian trademarks.

Horowitz, in his youth, was a pianist with a breathtakingly powerful style of playing. Power does not diminish with age, it only changes its form with time. Those more familiar with Horowitz's later (and more contemplative and reserved) recordings with DGG and Sony Classical would do well to have this disc in their collection.

This album, to me, is like an old photo of a close friend - faded, cracked, stained, yet unmistakable and undeniably precious.

Welte-Mignon.......1999-12-15

I am very disapointed for this issue. Do not be fooled by the DDD label. The recording is more about the outdated machine Welte-Mignon tried to record Horowitz in 1926 and nothing about grand master Horowitz. I did not even finish listening any of the pieces in this issue.

Average customer rating:

Historic performances with all the warts
Disgraceful

Paderewski on Welte-Mignon Rolls

Manufacturer: Dux Recording Prod.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Mazurkas | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Polonaises | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Waltzes | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Ballads | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Etudes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00005Q6U4
Release Date: 2001-09-25

Tracks:

X Rhap Wegierska in E
Staendchen (Ser, Wg Cymbelina Szekspira)
Der Erlkoenig (Krol Olch, Wlasc. Krol Elfow)
Impromptu in B, Op.142 D.935
Menuet in G (Humoresques De Conc), Op.14 No.1
Nokturn in B (Miscellanea), Op.16 No.4
Son Quasi Una Fant in c#, Op.27 No.2: I. Adagio Sostenuto
Son Quasi Una Fant in c#, Op.27 No.2: II. Allegretto
Son Quasi Una Fant in c#, Op.27 No.2: III. Presto Agitato

Tracks:

Ballada in A flat, Op.47
Etude in E, Op.10 No.3
Etuda in G flat, Op.25 No.9
Mazurek in b, Op.24 No.4
Nokturn in G, Op.37 No.2
Walc in c#, Op.64 No.2
Polonez in A flat, Op.53

Customer Reviews:

Historic performances with all the warts.......2006-03-02

These are from the hand of Paderewski. A fine collection of historic piano rolls

Disgraceful.......2005-11-22

The reproduction of these rolls is clattery, spasmodic -- altogether a disservice to Paderewski's memory. Stick with the flat disc recordings (acoustical and electrical) or go to the Pianola Institute website for good recordings of the later Duo-Art rolls.

Average customer rating:

Better than the Robots of Today...
Mechanical Indeed
How Some of the Greats Played (Almost)

Welte-Mignon Piano Rolls, 1905-1927

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Polonaises | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Waltzes | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Etudes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Compilations | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

4-for-3 Opera & Vocal | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music
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Welte-Mignon Piano Rolls, Vol. 3: Schumann, Brahms, Chopin, Sibelius
Welte-Mignon Piano Rolls, Vol. 2: R. Strauss, Grieg, Chopin, Weber

ASIN: B00009WQU4
Release Date: 2003-08-19

Tracks:

Minuet, Op.14 No.1 - Ignacy J. Paderewski
The Blue Danube, Arabesque - Josef Lhevinne
Rapsodie D'Auvergne In C Major, Op.73 - Camille Saint-Saens
Polonaise In F Sharp Major, Op.44 - Josef Hofmann
Paganini Etude No.5 In E Major - Egon Petri
Military March In D Major, Op.51 No.1 - Telemaque Lambrino
Dinner Waltz - Alfred Grunfeld
Gaspard De La Nuit, No.1 (Ondine) - Walter Gieseking
Andante - Rudolph Ganz
Minuet In A Minor - Hans Haass
Virtuoso Fantasy - Vladimir Horowitz
La Nuit - Rudolph Ganz
Staccato Caprice In F Sharp Major - Yolanda Mero

Customer Reviews:

Better than the Robots of Today..........2004-04-27

In a depressing world of classical recordings where performances are so stiff and mechanical (to the point that the performers themselves may not be able to pick their own recordings out in a group), this set of CDs is a must own for anybody interested in really touching souls by creating music.

The people recorded on these CDs took the words of CPE Bach to heart when he said, "one should play from the soul, not like a trained bird." These are truly heart-felt and inspired performances that any musician can learn from and any non-musician can enjoy.

Mechanical Indeed.......2003-10-03

Many critics dismiss piano rolls and, sadly, this album will persuade new listeners that they must sound clangorous and mechanical. This we know is not true. Wayne Stahnke did an outstanding job with his Rachmaninoff discs. Granted, he used computer reconstruction, but Kenneth Caswell, on the small Pierian label, did not, and his Granados and Debussy albums are uncannily realistic. The latter impressed even Charles Timbrell, an expert on French pianists. Equally musical is a more varied collection on the Phonographe label, which seems to include recordings made many years ago. Perhaps the piano used did not have to be "restored" but had been kept in good condition -- but I'm just guessing. In any event, this Naxos album is, unfortunately, a thumping failure.

How Some of the Greats Played (Almost).......2003-09-05

Periodically recordings like this surface--transfers from the Welte-Mignon piano rolls recorded early in the last century (mostly from around 1905; Horowitz in the 1920s). Similar to the more familiar piano rolls that were the 'software' for the ubiquitous player piano of old, the Welte-Mignon rolls used a very different mechanism and it is generally agreed that they did a better job of preserving the dynamic, tempo, rhythmic and touch nuances of the pianists who recorded them.

Here we have what is labeled Volume I of what presumably will be a series coming to us the Naxos label. They are recorded on a restored Steinway-Welte reproducing piano that has come down in the family of this series' producer, Richard Simonton jr. And the list of famous pianists recorded here is pretty impressive: Paderewski, Lhevinne, Saint-Saëns, Hofmann, Gieseking, Ganz, Egon Petri and Horowitz, as well as some lesser-known artists like Alfred Grünfeld, Télémaque Lambrino, Hans Haass and Yolanda Mero.

The sound is, of course, modern because the reproducing pianos were recorded in 2000 with modern sound equipment.

The primary drawback of these piano rolls is that they, though more lifelike than the old Aeolian piano rolls, do sound just the slightest bit mechanical. Still, one gets a good idea of how many of these pianists--some of them never recorded in modern sound otherwise--must have sounded in their prime. One notes, for instance, a very great use of rubato by such stars as Paderewski and Hofmann. It was certainly true that those old guys had personality!

Presumably Amazon will soon list the contents of this CD on this page --although they haven't done so yet--but suffice it to say that some outstanding selections are Paderewski playing his own 'Minuet,' Lhevinne playing the Strauss/Schulz/Evler 'Blue Danube,' Gieseking playing 'Ondine' from Ravel's 'Gaspard de la nuit,' and Hofmann playing the F-sharp minor 'Polonaise' of Chopin (a wonderful performance). One novelty is Rudolph Ganz playing a delightful Saint-Saëns arrangement of the familiar Andante from Haydn's 'Surprise' Symphony, something I'd never heard before. Another rarity is Hans Haass playing a Rameau minuet as arranged by Leopold Godowsky. We also get Horowitz playing his own 'Carmen Fantasy,' a crowd-pleaser that he recorded later more than once in the 'electric' era of recording. This performance, however, is a barn-burner and I frankly couldn't tell that it was from a piano roll.

So, if this is your meat, go for it. At this price, you can hardly miss.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing.......2004-07-20

This is the third of this series to come out and the third I have reviewed. I am fascinated by the history of piano-playing and grasp at any chance to hear pianists from an earlier era. The Welte-Mignon piano rolls are probably better at reproducing the playing of great pianists of the past than the more familiar piano rolls we associated with the Player Piano. But there are still some unresolved mechanical complexities with the system and a resulting mechanical quality to the music produced. In particular there is a subtle rhythmic instability that is probably discernible by most listeners. Having said that, there are some performances here that I am very happy to have. The pianists represented are: Artur Schnabel, Ferruccio Busoni, Josef Hofmann, Carl Schmidt, Olga Samaroff, Xaver Scharwenka, Rudolph Ganz, Yolanda Mero, Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler, Fanny Davies, W. Krowsky, and Wera Schapira. It is of note that some of these pianists lived on to record phonograph records, and where they are available (e.g. Fanny Davies in some of the 'Kinderszenen') they are preferable. Who needs Schnabel's Welte-Mignon efforts when he lived well into the electric period of recording and left a huge recorded legacy, including all the Beethoven sonatas?

American pianist Fanny Bloomfield Zeisler plays two Chopin selections-the Op. 70, No. 1 Waltz, and the B Minor Scherzo, Op. 20, No 1. The former is delightful, with an almost Viennese Schwung. But the Scherzo is a dog's breakfast; I think it is the recording process, not her playing, but one cannot be sure, of course. And in the Scherzo the piano is out of tune. Ferruccio Busoni, a real giant of the piano, is ill-served here. He made a few gramophone recordings but they, too, are not so great, although preferable to the clunky Paganini/Liszt 'La campanella' here. Josef Hofmann's 'German Waltz' by Anton Rubinstein is awkward, certainly not what we would expect from Hofmann's phonographic legacy; again, I blame the recording/reproduction process here. Davies's first six sections of 'Kinderszenen' are nicely done, I must say, but when she re-recorded them two decades later, they were much better.

All in all, I have to give this issue a thumbs down. I do understand that some of this same material is available on the Pierian label, but I've not heard those. One wonders if the reproduction of these Welte-Mignon rolls are done more expertly there.

Scott Morrison

Welte-Mignon Piano Rolls, Vol. 2: R. Strauss, Grieg, Chopin, Weber

Average customer rating:

Some good, some bad

Welte-Mignon Piano Rolls, Vol. 2: R. Strauss, Grieg, Chopin, Weber

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Polonaises | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Etudes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Rondos | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Scherzo | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Compilations | Classical | Styles | Music

Lullabies & Berceuse | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

4-for-3 Opera & Vocal | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music
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Welte-Mignon Piano Rolls, Vol. 3: Schumann, Brahms, Chopin, Sibelius
Welte-Mignon Piano Rolls, 1905-1927

ASIN: B000111BVK
Release Date: 2004-02-17

Customer Reviews:

Some good, some bad.......2004-02-19

This the second in the series of Welte-Mignon piano roll issues recorded in modern sound on a restored reproducing piano. These rolls (and the piano) had come down through the family of the CD's producer. There are some very good performances here and some that are real clunkers. Among the outstanding performances are the Chopin Scherzo in B flat Minor played by Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler (recorded in 1908), and for authenticity (and just a smidgen of schmaltz) Richard Strauss playing his own 'Dance of the Seven Veils' from Salome. He was not a great pianist, but he certainly knew how to give the dance some down-and-dirty hootchy-kootch. Josef Hofmann's performance of the Mendelssohn Rondo Capriccioso, although excitingly played, is plagued by very strange irregularities of tempo that I ascribe to the recording process, since I've heard other performances of his that are rock-solid rhythmically. Tosta di Benici's 'Black Key Étude' (Chopin) which unfortunately starts off the CD is technically secure but has some of the same rhythmic weirdness as the Hofmann.

Raoul Pugno's 'Un sospiro' (Liszt) is musical, but recorded at too high a sound level so that it sounds more like a hurricane than a sigh. Lillian Seckendorf Popper's Moszkowski Waltz, Op. 17, No. 3 is a charming salon trifle. Chopin's Polonaise in A flat Major, Op. 53, played by Paderewski, is titanic and one of the better performances here but marred by some cuts presumably having to do with technical limitations of the recording process. Still, I'm awfully glad to have it. It helps me remember what all the adulation of Paderewski was about.

Grieg was not a great pianist but his performance of his once-popular 'Butterfly,' Op 43, No. 1 is not as wayward as some recordings of it seem to be (e.g. Hofmann, Gilels, Pletnev). It was such a popular piece for amateurs that I think many professionals tended to toss it off. It is good to hear it played 'straight' by its own composer.

An oddity is Liszt's 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody played (fairly well) by Johanna Lohr (a pianist I'd never heard of) that includes a strange cadenza written by one 'Prof. H. Vetter.'

Customer Reviews:

With his own hands.......2007-06-05

The CD 'Mahler Plays Mahler' is a strange and remarkable cornucopia of music.

It gives us a glimpse of how Mahler *might* have conducted his own works, since no known recordings of Mahler exist. One can and will debate that Mahler could have conducted differently than how he played a solo instrument. In any case, the performance come across as eccentric and surprising with their shifts in tempo, and rather good technically, considering that Mahler wasn't known as a pianist.

The first movement of his Fifth Symphony is the tour de force on the album, and it sounds amazing in its treatment for piano. You will never think of the Symphony in the same way after hearing this, and it challenges one's beliefs in the 'proper' tempi and dynamics... if anything, the performance raises more questions than it would propose to answer.

In between are slightly less eccentric performances of songs and the final movement of the Fourth Symphony, with and without vocal accompaniment, thankfully.

Finally, the album ends with "Remembering Mahler" (aka "I Remember Mahler), a half-hour spoken collage with William Malloch, in which he interviews those who made contact with Mahler in their lives, mainly with people in New York who played in the orchestra(s) that he conducted. The most touching moment is with Mahler's daughter, with her distinctive voice, in which she struggles to remember a specific story about her father and begins with general memories before finally revealing a funny memory from her childhood. Other stories reinforce and sometimes contradict the myth of Mahler, depending upon who is telling the story.

The sound quality is fair, not top notch, but given the rarity of this album, it is inconsequential. Liner notes are very comprehensive and include a good deal of information about the Welte-Mignon pianola itself, and the difficulty of recording these works on CD.

Top recommendation, warts and all.

A glimpse of Mahler the performer/conductor ...?.......2005-12-06

Thanks to the fervour of Gilbert Kaplan - also known for his 'love affair' (his own words) with Mahler's Second Symphony - we have here a delightful album with piano music by Mahler ... by Mahler. So here we hear Mahler at play himself, but do we then have here a definitive set of rules with which to judge any (future) performance or recording by any work by Mahler? As Gilbert Kaplan sais in the booklet: "[...] there can be no doubt that these piano rolls are historic documents that to some reasonable degree reflect Mahler's own tempi and interpretation for this music." So, while stating the fact that these Welte-Mignon piano roll-recordings are indeed to 'some' reasonable degree guide-lines or references for future performances, they are also 'historic' documents which were the result of a specific moods and circumstances as well. And who is to say that one performance is better than another, when we compare for example such wonderful but different recordings of the Fifth Symphony by such different - but equally gifted - conductors like Bruno Walter, Leonard Bernstein or Ricardo Chailly?
Anyway, you may want to judge for yourself, but in the end IMHO this will remain an historical document and to some degree a curiosity. Any 'right' or 'good' performance of any work by Mahler is of course not defined by any set of 'rules' - even if coming from the maestro himself (!) - concerning tempi and interpretation. Any gifted conductor can of course subtly inflect the music with his own vision and bring out a result which is as musically and artistically 'true' and 'real' as any 'performance' by Mahler himself. Indeed Mahler himself gives the conductor some leeway, as he himself in his performances often did what he thought it should be and not what it was! (Witnessing the stories of the people who worked with him on the eighth track on this CD, 'Remembering Mahler') 'It is all mood' Mahler is said to have said during rehearsals, but nonetheless these piano roll recordings are a beautiful document to go back in time to go and sit beside Mahler as it were, he himself playing the piano. That by itself is a small miracle.
The most important message then, that we gain from this remarkable CD - aside from some beautiful and remarkable music - is the 'insight' (not really new, though, of course!) that any true performance (of any piece of music) depends both on staying TRUE to the source material (the music sounding like how it was meant by the composer in the first place, as indeed sometimes happens with very gifted conductors) and on MOOD.

Track Listings:

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

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