88s on 78s: pianists on record from 1903 to 1925

American Music Teacher, April-May, 2003 by Rick Robertson

Paderewski

If Rachmaninoff was the musician's favorite, the public unquestionably idolized Ignace Jan Paderewski. Today's musicians remember him for his often-slipshod performances and his tangential connection with the Polish Institute edition of Chopin's works. Recollections of his playing tend to be based on his later electrical recordings, by which time he was in his seventies. He had been a survivor of World War I, served a term as Prime Minister of Poland and lived into the first part of World War II. His health was poor, and his reflexes were gone. A modern-day pianist playing in this manner would likely not receive a passing grade at any conservatory. So why the fuss over Paderewski? There is much evidence of his greatness in the early acoustic discs. He did, however, have an annoying habit of overdoing the effect of playing the left hand before the right, as many pianists did during this time. According to pianist and author Malwine Bree, Paderewski's teacher Theodor Leschetizky taught in this manner. But in the early discs, one can hear a certain "majesty" (Chopin Polonaise in A Major), and yes, even accuracy and technical security (La Campanella). His textual changes are often surprising, for example, the strange lower octaves in the Chopin Funeral March, and his rubato is quite indulgent. But it is easy to see why the public admired him. To this listener, the best of his early discs is Liszt's La leggierezza. Pure poetry. And, of course, he was matchless in his own works, especially when one looks past the once-hackneyed Minuet in G and explores the Cracovienne fantastique or the Nocturne in B-flat.

Other Piano Greats

Josef Hofmann and Leopold Godowsky both left a generous legacy of recorded art. In fact, it is known that Hofmann was the first pianist to record--legend has it that he sat on Edison's lap while making a few private cylinder recordings in the Menlo Park studio, although this is pure fallacy. Gregor Benko states that Hofmann, then age 10, and Edison met after the records were made. Although both Hofmann's and Godowsky's styles were more appropriate for large works not in favor with record companies, they managed to leave many charming short works, some surprising. Has anyone since Hofmann played the Valse Gracile by Horatio Parker, or the Etude in C Minor by Constantin von Sternberg? And who since Godowsky has played Henselt's Cradle Song?

Shura Cherkassky's recording career started at the ripe old age of 11. He made four acoustic sides for Victor around 1923, including an original composition. He is the only pianist to my knowledge whose recording career spanned the time of acoustic recordings to present-day digitally recorded CDs.

Wilhelm Backhaus did not have as great a following in the United States as he had in Europe, but he is respected for his performances of Beethoven and Brahms. He was the first "name" pianist to record a sizeable quantity of discs, starting in 1909, and the first to record a portion of a concerto--Grieg's first movement, cut down to fit on two single-faced twelve-inch discs. His recorded repertoire is rather broad in stylistic variety, ranging from Bach's C-sharp Major Prelude and Fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier I to Grieg's Norwegian Bridal Procession and Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C-sharp Minor. Grieg had been dead less than five years, and Rachmaninoff lived on for twenty-five or so more when these were laid to wax.