Search - Camille Saint-Saens, Frederic Chopin :: Masters of the Piano Roll: Saint-Saëns Plays Saint-Saëns

It's Exciting to Hear Saint-Saens Play His Own Music

David | Houston, Texas, USA | 05/06/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For those of you who may not be familiar with the reproducing piano, it is a technological marvel that was popular in the early part of the 20th century. At a time when audio recording was in its infancy, the reproducing piano permitted the recording of the piano greats of that time in such fidelity that audiences were unable to tell the difference between the reproducing piano and the artist playing live on stage. Pianists of the time, such as Artur Rubinstein is quoted as saying, "As the reproducing piano plays it, it seems to be that I am performing it myself."



Thanks to the loving interest and concern of an Australian, Dennis Condon and other similar collectors around the world, reproducing pianos and their vitally important rolls have been preserved for posterity. At the time these CD's were made, in 1992, Mr. Condon owned nine reproducing pianos and "eight thousand of the special rolls they use."



Several years ago I purchased several reproducing piano recordings made by Klavier Records as part of their "Legendary Artists Series." Recently I looked into buying some more, but Klavier Records had been purchased by Edwin F. Kalmus & Co., Inc. and changed the name to Klavier Music Productions. There was no remaining trace of "The Legendary Artists Series" and an email to them has produced no response at this point.



Feeling frustrated I started researching reproducing pianos and found the Dal Segno label. The information on their "Masters of the Piano Roll" that I could find was sketchy at best but I decided to roll the dice and see what was delivered.



The good news is that this recording, at least, is of the same quality as the Klavier recordings and best of all, they're still available.



A review of the available recordings reveals an outstanding selection of recordings by many of the great composers and pianists of the early 20th century. If you have an interest in well recorded piano music performed, in some instances, by the composer and in other instances by outstanding pianists of this era these recordings will bring you great pleasure.



Amazon has a good selection from which I've ordered several recordings. If the others are as good as the Saint-Saens then I'll be very pleased.

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