Vladimir Horowitz – The Welte-Mignon Mystery Vol. XI – RACHMANINOFF: 3 Preludes; HOROWITZ: Moment exotique; BIZET-HOROWITZ: Carmen Fantasie; LISZT: Liebesbotschat, Valse oubliée No. 1; LISZT-BUSONI: Figaro Fantasie; BACH-BUSONI: Prelude & Fugue in D Major; Toccata, Adagio & Fugue in C Major; CHOPIN: 3 Mazurkas, 2 Etudes
Horowitz Welte interpretations in 1926 – Tacet 138, 69:06 [Distr. by Naxos] *****:
The latest in the continuing series of transfers to CD of the most advanced of all the piano roll technologies of the past – the Welte-Mignon (invented in 1904) – brings us Horowitz, not via scratchy and tinny-sounding shellacs of 1926, but playing in perfectly-recorded stereo on a modern Steinway using the “vorsetzer” magic fingers of the Welte-Mignon playback mechanism. These are the original 1926 piano rolls which Horowitz cut, and the equipment has been newly tuned to a T by the leading expert on the Welte-Mignon system. As Tacet’s notes state “the original performer was present at the recent recording session, but not physically.”Horowitz’ first big splash was in Leningrad in 1924/5, his Berlin debut took place in January 1926. In 1927 he was finally discovered for the American musical scene and came to the U.S. Sometime in 1926 he had visited the Welte studios in Freiburg, Germany, and recorded some of the shorter works that were part of his great recital successes. Some of these are sort of salon pieces with less interest today, and he dropped the Figaro Fantasie shortly after cutting the rolls, but his amazing Carmen Fantasie stayed with him his entire career. The virtuoso approach is paramount here, but not without plenty of feeling and a wide spectrum of tone color in his performances.
The latest in the continuing series of transfers to CD of the most advanced of all the piano roll technologies of the past – the Welte-Mignon (invented in 1904) – brings us Horowitz, not via scratchy and tinny-sounding shellacs of 1926, but playing in perfectly-recorded stereo on a modern Steinway using the “vorsetzer” magic fingers of the Welte-Mignon playback mechanism. These are the original 1926 piano rolls which Horowitz cut, and the equipment has been newly tuned to a T by the leading expert on the Welte-Mignon system. As Tacet’s notes state “the original performer was present at the recent recording session, but not physically.”Horowitz’ first big splash was in Leningrad in 1924/5, his Berlin debut took place in January 1926. In 1927 he was finally discovered for the American musical scene and came to the U.S. Sometime in 1926 he had visited the Welte studios in Freiburg, Germany, and recorded some of the shorter works that were part of his great recital successes. Some of these are sort of salon pieces with less interest today, and he dropped the Figaro Fantasie shortly after cutting the rolls, but his amazing Carmen Fantasie stayed with him his entire career. The virtuoso approach is paramount here, but not without plenty of feeling and a wide spectrum of tone color in his performances.
Of course the Welte engineers/editors had a strong hand in making every aspect of the recordings faultless in their final form, but Horowitz’ technical prowess was so good there most have been little adjustments needed. There is no noticeable equipment noise as with all the other previous Welte CD reissues, and also very little of that identifiable mechanical-delivery sound of even the best piano rolls. It is most interesting to do an A/B comparison of some of these transfers with the same selections – such as the Carmen Fantasie or Rachmaninoff Preludes – recorded by Horowitz on live concert CDs released in the 80s and 90s.
– John Sunier
