MORIZ

ROSENTHAL
The complete
recordings

MORIZ ROSENTHAL
(1862 1946)
1 I Victor Talking Machine Company, Camden, New Jersey, USA
1. ROSENTHAL Fantasy on themes from Johann Strauss

(Blue Danube, Joys of Life [Freut euch des Lebens] and Fledermaus)
II

Okeh, New York

March or April 1928

2. CHOPIN Waltz in C sharp minor Op 64 No 2

3. CHOPIN Mazurka in G major Op 67 No 1
4. CHOPIN Waltz in E minor Op posth
III

5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

8 May 1928 (75.07)

matrices CVE-45018 and 45019; (7.29)
issued only on Electrola EJ329

matrix W500005B; Argentine Odeon 132552-A (3.59)

matrix W500006A; Argentine Odeon 132552B (1.17)

"

Thomas A Edison Inc, West Orange, New Jersey, USA

CHOPIN Prelude in B minor Op 28 No 6

(3.03)

March & April 1929

1 March 1929; lateral cut matrix N-754-A; unpublished (2.16)

"


"


"

1 March 1929; lateral cut matrix N-754-B; 47004-R

"


"


"

CHOPIN Prelude in B major Op 28 No 11

CHOPIN Prelude in A major Op 28 No 7
CHOPIN Prelude in F major Op 28 No 23
CHOPIN Prelude in B minor Op 28 No 6
CHOPIN Prelude in B major Op 28 No 11
CHOPIN Prelude in A major Op 28 No 7
CHOPIN Prelude in F major Op 28 No 23

(0.33)
(0.50)
(0.52)
(2.19)
(0.32)
(0.51)
(0.49)

The complete recordings

13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.

CHOPIN Mazurka in C sharp minor Op 63 No 3

CHOPIN Mazurka in A flat major Op 24 No 3
CHOPIN Mazurka in G major Op 67 No 1
CHOPIN Mazurka in C sharp minor Op 63 No 3
CHOPIN Mazurka in A flat major Op 24 No 3
CHOPIN Mazurka in G major Op 67 No 1

2 March 1929; lateral cut matrix N-755-A; unpublished (1.55)

"


"

2 March 1929; lateral cut matrix N-755-B; unpublished

"


"

(1.18)
(1.17)
(1.55)
(1.17)
(1.13)

CHOPIN Waltz in A flat major Op 42

2 March 1929; lateral cut matrix N-756-A; unpublished (3.42)

CHOPIN Waltz in A flat major Op 42

2 March 1929; lateral cut matrix N-756-B; unpublished (3.43)

CHOPIN-LISZT-ROSENTHAL Chant polonais No 1 (The Maidens Wish)

2 March 1929; (4.42)

lateral cut matrix N-757-A; unpublished

22. CHOPIN-LISZT-ROSENTHAL Chant polonais No 1 (The Maidens Wish)

2 March 1929; (4.45)

lateral cut matrix N-757-B; unpublished

23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.

CHOPIN Nouvelle tude No 3 in A flat major

8 April 1929; lateral cut matrix N-838-B; Edison 47004-L (2.15)

"

CHOPIN Prelude in A major Op 28 No 7

"

CHOPIN tude in G flat major Op 10 No 5 (Black Keys)

"

CHOPIN Prelude in B minor Op 28 No 6
8 April 1929; lateral cut matrix N-842-B; unpublished
CHOPIN Prelude in A major Op 28 No 7

"

CHOPIN tude in G flat major Op 10 No 5 (Black Keys)

"

CHOPIN tude in C major Op 10 No 1

CHOPIN Prelude in B minor Op 28 No 6

(1.58)

8 April 1929; lateral cut matrix N-842-A; unpublished (2.15)

(0.52)
(1.35)
(2.16)
(0.53)
(1.34)

CHOPIN Nocturne in E flat major Op 9 No 2

8 April 1929; lateral cut matrix N-843-A; unpublished (4.33)

CHOPIN Nocturne in E flat major Op 9 No 2

8 April 1929; lateral cut matrix N-843-B; unpublished (4.32)

2
1.
2.
3.
4.

IV

Lindstrm group (Odeon and Parlophone), Berlin

CHOPIN-LISZT Chant polonais No 5 (My Joys)

1929, 1930 & 1931 (73.31)

29 May 1929; matrix XXB8347; French Odeon 171107 (4.17)

CHOPIN Mazurka in B flat minor Op 24 No 4

29 May 1929; matrix XXB8349; French Odeon 171107 (3.50)

CHOPIN Berceuse in D flat major Op 57

1 June 1929; matrix XXB8350; Spanish Odeon 173164 (4.01)

CHOPIN Waltz in C sharp minor Op 64 No 2

29 May 1929; matrix 21457; Japanese Parlophone E17021; (3.52)

also on Japanese Columbia J8425

5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

CHOPIN Prelude in C minor Op 28 No 20

29 May 1929; matrix 21465; Japanese Parlophone E17021 (1.21)

16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.

CHOPIN tude in G flat major Op 10 No 5 (Black Keys)

"


"


"

CHOPIN Prelude in C major Op 28 No 1

CHOPIN Prelude in G major Op 28 No 3
CHOPIN Prelude in E flat major Op 28 No 19

(0.33)
(0.55)
(1.17)

CHOPIN Waltz in C sharp minor Op 64 No 2

28 April 1930; matrix 21692; German Parlophone P9520 (3.41)

CHOPIN Waltz in E minor Op posth

28 April 1930; matrix 21693; German Parlophone P9520 (2.52)

ROSENTHAL Papillons

3 May 1930; matrix 21704; French Parlophone 59521 (2.14)

"


"

CHOPIN Mazurka in C sharp minor Op 63 No 3

CHOPIN tude in G flat major Op 10 No 5

(1.35)

3 March 1931; matrix 21783; German Parlophone P9570 (1.40)

CHOPIN Mazurka in C sharp minor Op 63 No 3

CHOPIN Mazurka in C sharp minor Op 63 No 3

CHOPIN tude in C major Op 10 No 1

(1.54)

3 March 1931; matrix 21783 take 2; (1.56)

issued only on U.S. Decca 25268

"


"

(1.35)

March 1931; matrix 21784; German Parlophone P9570 (2.02)

CHOPIN Mazurka in G major Op 67 No 1

(1.18)

DEBUSSY Reflets dans leau (from Images Book I) 29 May 1929; matrix 21460; French Parlophone F57063 (4.08)
DEBUSSY Reflets dans leau

29 May 1929; matrix 21460 take 2; English Parlophone E11145 (4.10)

ALBNIZ Triana (from Iberia Book 2)

29 May 1929; matrix 21461; French Parlophone 57063 (4.09)

LIADOV A Musical Snuffbox Op 32

3 May 1930; matrix 21705; French Parlophone 59523 (2.32)

"

LIADOV Prelude in B flat major Op 46 No 1

ROSENTHAL Carnaval de Vienne

(0.56)

3 May 1930; matrices 21706 and 21707-2; German Parlophone P9542 (7.07)

(Humoresque on Themes of Johann Strauss)

25. ROSENTHAL Fantasy on themes from Johann Strauss

6 March 1931; matrices 21785 and 21786; (7.35)

German Parlophone P9562

(Blue Danube, Joys of Life [Freut euch des Lebens] and Fledermaus)
4

IV

Lindstrm group (Odeon and Parlophone), Berlin

continued

1930 & 1931 (78.27)

CHOPIN Piano Concerto No 1 in E minor Op 11

26 November 1930; matrices 38839 and 38840; &

1. Allegro maestoso 2 March 1931; matrices 133019, 133020, 133021, 133026; German Parlophone B12451, 12452, 12453
2. Romanza: Larghetto
26 November 1930; matrices 21695 and 21696; German Parlophone P9558
3. Rondo: Vivace
1 May 1930; matrices 21697 and 21698; German Parlophone P9559

(32.55)
(16.12)
(8.10)
(8.06)

with BERLIN STATE OPERA ORCHESTRA/FRIEDER WEISSMANN

V

Ultraphon, Berlin

16 April 1930

4. LISZT Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 (with Rosenthal cadenza)

5. LISZT Liebestraum No 3 in A flat major
6. CHOPIN Berceuse in D flat major Op 57
VI

matrices 30473 and 30474; F486 (7.41)

matrix 30476; F469 (3.53)
matrix 30475; F469 (3.57)

Gramophone Company Ltd, No 3 Studio, Abbey Road, London

1934 & 1935

7. ROSENTHAL New Carnaval de Vienne (on themes from Johann Strauss)

9 February 1934; (8.03)

matrices 2B6004-1 and 6005-2; unpublished on 78rpm

8. CHOPIN-LISZT-ROSENTHAL Chant polonais No 1 (The Maidens Wish)

9 February 1934; (4.40)

matrix 2B6006-1; unpublished on 78rpm

9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.

CHOPIN Waltz in A flat major Op 42

9 February 1934; matrix 2B6007-2; unpublished on 78rpm (3.47)

CHOPIN Nocturne in E flat major Op 9 No 2

29 March 1935; matrix 2EA1359-1; unpublished on 78rpm (4.21)

CHOPIN tude in F minor Op 25 No 2

31 March 1935; matrix 2EA1365-1; unpublished on 78rpm (1.38)

CHOPIN Nouvelle tude No 3 in A flat major

"

(2.14)

CHOPIN Mazurka in A flat major Op 50 No 2

31 March 1935; matrix 0EA1366-1; unpublished on 78rpm (3.01)

CHOPIN tude in G flat major Op 10 No 5

31 March 1935; matrix 0EA1369-1; unpublished on 78rpm (1.37)

4
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

VI

Gramophone Company Ltd, No 3 Studio, Abbey Road, London

continued

19351937 (67.24)

CHOPIN Waltz in A flat major Op 42

21 November 1935; matrix 2EA2561-1; HMV DB2772 (3.48)

CHOPIN Prelude in B minor Op 28 No 6

21 November 1935; matrix 2EA2562-2; HMV DB2772 (2.07)

CHOPIN Prelude in G major Op 28 No 3

(1.04)

"


"

CHOPIN Prelude in A major Op 28 No 7

CHOPIN Mazurka in A flat major Op 50 No 2

"

6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

CHOPIN Mazurka in G major Op 67 No 1

12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.

CHOPIN Mazurka in A flat major Op 50 No 2

(0.51)

21 November 1935; matrix 2EA2566-1; (2.55)

issued briefly on Victor 14304

CHOPIN Mazurka in B minor Op 33 No 4

(1.20)

23 November 1935; matrix 2EA2567-1; HMV DB2773 (4.29)

CHOPIN Waltz in C sharp minor Op 64 No 2

22 May 1936; matrix 2EA2565-4; issued only on Victor 14299 (3.46)

CHOPIN Nocturne in E flat major Op 9 No 2 22 May 1936; matrix 2EA3640-4; issued only on Victor 14297 (4.10)
CHOPIN Nocturne in D flat major Op 27 No 2 22 May 1936; matrix 2EA3641-5; issued only on Victor 14297 (4.56)
CHOPIN-LISZT-ROSENTHAL Chant polonais No 1 (The Maidens Wish) 22 May 1936; matrix 2EA3646-1; (4.35)
issued only on Victor 14300
25 May 1936; matrix 2EA2566-3; HMV DB2773 (3.22)

CHOPIN Mazurka in D major Op 33 No 2

22 October 1937; matrix 0EA5504-2; issued only on Victor 1951 (2.29)

CHOPIN Mazurka in B major Op 63 No 1

22 October 1937; matrix 0EA5505-2; issued only on Victor 1951 (2.15)

CHOPIN Mazurka in G major Op 67 No 1

22 October 1937; matrix 0EA5506-1; unpublished on 78rpm (1.17)

"

CHOPIN Mazurka in A flat major Op 24 No 3

CHOPIN Prelude in F sharp major Op 28 No 13

(1.28)

23 October 1937; matrix 0EA5507-1; (3.26)

unpublished on 78rpm

18. SCHUBERT Moment musical No 3 in F minor D780

22 October 1937; matrix 0EA3645-2; (1.57)

unpublished on 78rpm

19. SCHUBERT-LISZT Soire de Vienne No 6 (Valse-Caprice in A)

25 May 1936; (5.04)

matrices 0EA3647-1 and 3648-1; issued only on Victor 1854

20. ROSENTHAL Papillons

23 October 1937; matrix 0EA3644-3; unpublished on 78rpm (2.19)
21. ROSENTHAL New Carnaval de Vienne (on themes from Johann Strauss)
23 November 1935; (8.08)
matrices 2EA2568-1 and 2569-1; HMV DB2836

RCA Victor, Camden, New Jersey, USA

VII

June 1939 & March 1942 (71.29)

1. HANDEL Air and Variations in E The Harmonious Blacksmith

CHOPIN Piano Sonata No 3 in B minor Op 58

2.
3.
4.
5.

Allegro maestoso
Scherzo: Molto vivace
Largo
Finale: Presto non tanto

6. Scherzo: Molto vivace

7. Finale: Presto non tanto

26 June 1939; unpublished on 78rpm

matrices CS-040220-1 and 040221-1
matrix CS-040205-1
matrices CS-040211-1 and 040212-1
matrix CS-040214-1

18 March 1942; matrix CS-073452-1; unpublished on 78rpm (4.21)

18 March 1942; matrix CS-073453-3; unpublished on 78rpm (3.13)

British Broadcasting Corporation, London

10. CHOPIN Piano Sonata No 3 in B minor Op 58 Largo (incomplete)

IX

(25.43)
(8.48)
(2.41)
(9.10)
(5.04)

alternative matrix CS-040205-2 (2.40)

alternative version recorded on 2 sides; matrices CS-040215-1 and 040216-2 (5.06)

8. CHOPIN-LISZT Chant polonais No 5 (My Joys)

9. CHOPIN Tarantelle in A flat major Op 43
VIII

23 June 1939; matrix CS-040200-1A; (4.37)

unpublished on 78rpm

National Broadcasting Company, New York

11. CHOPIN Piano Concerto No 1 in E minor Op 11 Romanza: Larghetto

with NBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA/FRANK BLACK

12. ROSENTHAL Carnaval de Vienne (Humoresque on Themes of Johann Strauss)

24 March 1935
off air recording of (5.33)
live broadcast
19 December 1937
recording of (11.30)
radio broadcast

"

(7.49)

father was a professor of mathematics who

spoke fluent French and also wrote a book on
German grammar that was adopted by the
Austrian Ministry of Education. Young Moriz
grew up in an atmosphere of intelligent debate
and learned, healthy argument. It was not, however, a musical household, but Rosenthals father
purchased a piano when his son was seven years
old and arranged for a local teacher, Wenzel
Galath, to give him lessons. The boys progress
was so fast that it was not long before Galath
declared he could teach him nothing more. It was
decided that Moriz should study with the famous
pupil of Chopin, Karol Mikuli (1819 1897), at that
time Director of the Lemberg Conservatory.
Between the ages of ten and twelve, Rosenthal
had two lessons a week from Mikuli who taught
him the secret of a perfect legato.
In 1875, Rosenthals father took him to
Vienna for two months to continue his studies
with Rafael Joseffy (18521915), a pupil of
Tausig and Liszt. Unfortunately, Joseffy was
about to leave for a concert tour, so he initially
entrusted the boy to Joseph Dachs (1825 1896),
a pupil of Czerny. In August, Moriz was awarded
a three-year stipend by the Galician parliament
and, because the boy was only thirteen, his
father secured a job at a Viennese life insurance
company and opened a private teaching institute
so that the whole Rosenthal family could move to
Vienna. Joseffy returned to Vienna in October
and soon Moriz made his debut playing Chopins
Piano Concerto in F minor Op 21 (with Joseffy at
the second piano), Beethovens Variations in C
minor, some solo Chopin, and Liszts La
Campanella.
Tours of Poland and Romania followed, with
the now fourteen-year-old Rosenthal being

HERE ARE PIANISTS who have talent and

technique and little intellect, pianists that
have a great deal of intellect and little
technique, but there are very few who possess
both in equal measure. In the second half of the
twentieth century the intellectual pianist often
presented the Urtext edition and a serious
programme that served the composer. Every
note was offered just as the composer intended,
nothing added, nothing taken away; or so it
was thought. The pianist repressed his own
personality in deference to a greater mind.
During the first half of the twentieth century the
personality of the performer was still paramount,
but this was often because the strength of
that personality was able to communicate the
meaning of the music to the audience rather than
come between it and them (often the perception
today). The intellect of the artist was founded on
a background of European culture that fostered
knowledge and learning, and it was this knowledge and learning that formed the foundation of
the interpretation. At the age of twenty, the soonto-be-celebrated Paderewski decided to study
Latin, mathematics, history and Polish literature,
while the subject of this essay, Moriz Rosenthal,
interrupted a successful performing career at
the age of eighteen to attend the University of
Vienna where, for five years, he studied
philosophy and aesthetics. Both understood that
without a comprehensive background of knowledge they would be just regular piano players
and not musical artists.
Moriz Rosenthal was born in 1862 in what
was then Lemberg, in the Kingdom of Galicia,
part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (with the
re-establishment of a Polish state it became
Lww, it is now Lviv, part of the Ukraine). His
8

young caused a sensation. At this time, he also

made friends with the greatest musicians of the
time including Johann Strauss, Saint-Sans,
Tchaikovsky, Brahms and, particularly, Anton
Rubinstein with whom he often travelled.
At the end of 1888, Rosenthal undertook his
first tour of America giving more than a hundred
concerts. He astounded audiences throughout
the country and returned many times. It was
not until 1895, at the age of thirty-two, that
Rosenthal gave his debut in London, playing
Liszts Piano Concerto in E flat. The tone he
produced was simply prodigious, yet it must be
admitted that it seldom or never degenerated
into mere noise, wrote one critic. Rosenthal also

appointed Court Pianist to the Royal Family of

Romania. At this time, Franz Liszt heard him
play and immediately accepted the boy as a
pupil. Rosenthal was fortunate that while
studying with Liszt in Rome and Weimar (from
1876 to 1878 and again from 1884 to 1886) he was
sometimes the only student, receiving Liszts
sole attention. Further concerts took place in
Paris, St Petersburg and Warsaw but it was
during this period, at the age of eighteen, that
Rosenthal decided to enrol at university to study
for a period of five years.
When he returned to the concert stage in
Vienna in 1886, the combination of stupendous
technique and deep musical insight in one so

LISZT WITH SOME OF HIS PUPILS IN THE SUMMER OF 1884

ROSENTHAL IS STANDING TOP LEFT

10

performance of chamber music when he joined

violinist Johannes Wolff and cellist Paul Ludwig
in a performance of Beethovens Piano Trio in B
flat at the Monday Popular Concerts. Rosenthal
returned to London in October 1898 where he
played Scharwenkas Piano Concerto No 1 in B
flat minor Op 32 with Liszts Don Juan Fantasy
as an encore.
Rosenthal sustained a career throughout the
first three decades of the twentieth century,
constantly touring Europe and America. After
the First World War, he gave a series of seven
historical recitals, similar to those of his friend
Anton Rubinstein, surveying the literature for
the piano from Bach to Brahms. Reference was
still being made to the fact that he possessed a
colossal technique allied to a poetic sensitivity
a West-Coast performance in the mid-1920s
prompted one critic to write:
Seldom has there been heard in San
Francisco a pianist of greater technical gifts
or of more virile power. It is, of course, as a
technician that Rosenthal has been known.
But added to this was also so much
sincerity, intellectuality and beauty as to
make of the performance a truly
distinguished memory.
Rosenthal was already in his sixties at this time
and his playing and personality still commanded
an overwhelming, leonine grandeur. Protective of
his position as one of the worlds great pianists,
Rosenthal could be irascible and direct his
caustic wit at whomever he felt deserved it. Even
well into his seventies he would work out in a
gym to try to retain the health and fitness of
his youth; he even appeared in Life magazine
on his seventy-fifth birthday pictured lifting
weights.

toured while in Britain, and wherever he played

critics made reference to both his extraordinary
technique and innate musicality. A review of his
appearance in Edinburgh gives a good idea of the
impression he created:
To all who had not previously heard him,
Herr Rosenthals playing was a revelation.
As a virtuoso he knows no rival. His powers
of execution are simply marvellous, and
there seems nothing that his fingers cannot
do on the keys of a pianoforte. His position
in this respect is now granted on all sides,
but there are not many of those present on
Saturday who will venture to deny his claim
to the title of artist as well as virtuoso. In
the music of Beethoven, Henselt, Schubert,
Chopin, where a depth of poetical feeling is
required, Herr Rosenthal is as much at
home as in the amazing technical difficulties
of Brahms and Liszt. (The Dundee Courier
& Argus, 16 December 1895)
At the end of his British tour Rosenthal gave a
final recital at St Jamess Hall, Piccadilly, before
an enormous audience where his sense of humour
and ease was displayed. During his rendition of
Beethovens Les Adieux Sonata Op 81a:
He was interrupted by a coach-horn in
Piccadilly, but the pianist, without the
slightest irritation, waited until the last note
of the horn, and then cried Bravo! and
continued his own performance amidst
tumultuous applause.
Again, it was pointed out that Herr Rosenthal
has utterly silenced the detractors who sought
to prove him merely a mechanical player. His
technical skill is certainly prodigious, but he
has also splendid style and expression
Four months later, he proved himself in the
11

Rosen. In 1936, the seventy-four-year-old Rosenthal played his series of seven historical recitals
again in London and in 1938, he gave a Carnegie
Hall recital celebrating the 50th anniversary of
his American debut. Rosenthal was still before
the public at the age of seventy-nine when he
gave a Chopin recital at the Town Hall in New
York in November 1941, although by this time the
virtuosic bravura of his youth was replaced by
the most subtle of shadings, a wondrously
beautiful tone, and exquisite poise and control.
However, his Town Hall programme did include
the Chopin Op 60 Barcarolle and the Op 43
Tarantella. On 19 December 1942, a day after
his eightieth birthday, a concert was given by his
friends and pupils at Hunter College, New York,
although Rosenthal himself did not play. He died
in September 1946.
Rosenthal did not make his first recording
until he was sixty-four years old. In a 1932
interview he was asked why he had hesitated
such a long time before deciding to record for the
gramophone. His answer was that piano reproduction was for a long time so indifferent that
he could see no purpose in making records.
Although it has been cited in at least two essays
that Rosenthal recorded for the Gramophone
Company in Paris on 15 November 1927, this is
unsubstantiated, and not corroborated by EMI
France. Parisian recordings on this date seem
unlikely (although not impossible) as the ledgers
for the Lindstrm Company in Germany detail
sessions on 14 November the same year (where
seven titles were recorded, although none of
them was issued).
Until recently, it was thought that
Rosenthals first published disc was made by
Victor in America and issued only in Germany.

Rosenthal was not a figure of commanding

physical stature, but his presence and attitude
demanded attention:
Rather short, heavy set, with dark skin,
quick brown eyes, and thin dark hair, Moriz
Rosenthal is the type of personality whose
presence is always felt. He is quick in his
motions, and his short stubby hands are
never still; yet he is by no means a nervous
type and has none of the languishing,
dreaming mannerisms which some associate
with musicians.
This description of Rosenthal at the keyboard
appears from 1921:
Though there is a look of pleasant suavity
in his general bearing, Rosenthal while
playing wears a look of almost pained
fastidiousness, and in the expression of his
playing this fastidiousness is never relaxed.
His use of the sustaining pedal is more
scrupulous than that of any other player in
the world.
Henry Wood wrote of Rosenthals strange
personality. When on tour he would book the
hotel rooms either side of his so that he would
not be disturbed by noise from neighbours. This
would even extend to the rooms above and below.
Wood also reported that Rosenthal took his own
supply of up to two gallons of drinking water with
him when he travelled.
At the age of sixty, Rosenthal was married for
the first time to Hedwig Loewy Kanner (1882
1959), one of his pupils, and they remained in
Vienna until forced to leave by the Nazi regime,
settling in New York in 1938. Rosenthal was
appointed guest professor at the Curtis Institute
of Music in Philadelphia in 1928, where his
students included Robert Goldsand and Charles
12

This paraphrase of waltzes by his friend Johann

Strauss is a performance, if not of bravura
virtuosity, then of experience, style and grandeur.
The session of 8 May 1928 began with five takes
of his own composition Papillons, but this title
was not issued.
However, a disc surfaced recently issued on
the Odeon label in Argentina. The label states
Prof Morris Rosenthal, New York and the
matrices are those of the Okeh Company,
although in the matrix listings published in
2004 by Ross Laird and Brian Rust these two
particular numbers have no information by them.
Recorded in New York some time in March or
April 1928, the connection is probably through
the manager of the United States branch of the
German Odeon Company (part of the Lindstrm
Company with whom Rosenthal had already
worked in 1927), who had founded the Okeh
label in America in 1918. His name was Otto K E
Heinmann and he used his initials for the name
of his new label. It is possible that Rosenthal
was recorded while in New York using the Okeh
studios with the intention to have the results
released on the Odeon label. Okeh was a label set
up to record popular music and this may account
for the inferior sound quality of these sides.
The many sides recorded in March and April
1929 for Edison in America produced only one
issued disc, although many of those not issued at
the time appear on this release. For the inventor
of recorded sound, the technical quality of these
lateral-cut discs is inferior and probably explains
why they were not issued.
At the end of May and beginning of June 1929,
Rosenthal was back in Germany recording for
the Lindstrm Company; of the seven sides
made, only Debussys Reflets dans leau and
13

Albnizs Triana were widely released, while the

Chopin titles were only issued in France and
Spain. One important matrix from these sessions
surfaced recently. Released only in Japan, the
side contains Rosenthals only recordings of
three of Chopins Preludes Nos 1, 19 and 20.
Rosenthal recorded more sides for Lindstrm
in 1930 and 1931, the most important of which
are those for Chopins Piano Concerto No 1 in
E minor, Op 11. This wonderful recording
preserves, in an extended work, a style of Chopin
playing that had all but disappeared by the mid1930s. Rosenthal made a great impression when
he performed the concerto with the London
Philharmonic Orchestra and Thomas Beecham
at the Queens Hall in London in 1934 prompting
critic Ernest Newman to write:
Mr Moriz Rosenthal turned all his vast
experience and his famous technique upon
the Chopin Concerto in E minor, in a
performance that was a model of suavity
and ease. By all accounts it was in this quiet
way that Chopin used to play his own music,
not in the way of some of the hustling piano
hussars of the present day.
Another critic perceived Rosenthals authentic
integration of Chopins ornaments as part of the
melodic line:
Still the programme would have been a
comparatively uneventful one had it not
been for Herr Moriz Rosenthal, who played
Chopins Concerto in E minor in a way to
convince all but the recalcitrant that so far
from having faded, this concerto remains
one of the imperishable masterpieces of
pianistic style. Without hurry or overemphasis Herr Rosenthal unfolded the
beauties of its cantilena, fitting every

ornament into the shape of the phrase so

that the interest was carried forward not by
appeal to decorative effect but by exhibiting
the enormous resource of the composer in
expanding his melodic ideas.
(The Times, 2 February 1934)
Less musically successful, though still important,
are a few sides that appeared on the Ultraphon/
Telefunken labels, the chief interest here being
two works by Liszt.
From 1934 to 1937, Rosenthal entered into
a contract with HMV in England. He recorded
eighty sides, of which only six were issued in
Britain, with a further eight titles released in
America on the Victor label. Although by then he
was in his mid-seventies, these are some of his
best recordings and are captured in excellent
sound. He repeated much of the repertoire he
had recorded for other companies, mainly
Chopin, but he also set down some other titles
such as a Schubert Moment musical and a
Chopin Prelude that he had not recorded before.
The Nocturne in E flat Op 9 No 2 is particularly
good for its demonstration of his glorious tone
quality, as is the Prelude in F sharp major
Op 28 No 13. Another impressive disc from
these sessions is Rosenthals own version of
the Chopin-Liszt song The Maidens Wish. The
surviving HMV recordings are an excellent testament to a great pianist. Rosenthals protracted
correspondence with HMV over these sessions
makes fascinating reading, giving insights into
his nature as man and musician.
The June 1939 recordings made for Victor in
Chicago were never issued at the time, probably
because by now Rosenthal, approaching eighty,
was evidently fallible; perhaps he did not sanction them for release. However, they include a
14

selected part of Rosenthals performance of the

Largo from the Piano Sonata in B minor Op 58 to
test his equipment. (It is to be regretted that he
did not record another work on the programme
Liszts Au Lac de Wallenstadt.)
These recordings contain some of the finest
piano playing ever committed to disc and the
following words are as relevant today as when
they were written in 1934:
Herr Rosenthals interpretation has such
a peculiar value for musicians at the present
day. It belongs to the authentic tradition of
such masters as Chopin, Schumann, and
Liszt, and the inherited tradition has been
kept alive in him by his devotion to the
musical meaning of the great romantic
composers, so that whereas in youth it was
the supreme virtuosity which attracted
attention, now that is all concentrated on
the interpretation of the work in hand, be it
great or small.
(The Times, 5 February 1934)

major work that Rosenthal played throughout his

career Chopins Piano Sonata in B minor Op 58.
The tone quality in the Largo is extraordinarily
beautiful; as Rosenthal wrote of his teacher
Mikuli, I never heard such a perfect legatissimo.
It was an inheritance of his great master
[Chopin] and he gave me the secret. Some other
titles recorded at these sessions seem not to have
survived, but those that have are impressive for
a seventy-seven year old man. Rosenthals last
recording session took place in March 1942 in
New York. Now aged eighty, Rosenthal recorded
just two titles, the Tarantella in A flat Op 43 by
Chopin, and Liszts arrangement of Chopins
song My Joys. This last recording is a distillation
of a lifetimes knowledge of piano playing and is
exquisitely beautiful.
A few recordings from radio broadcasts have
survived from Rosenthals seventy-fifth birthday
celebrations in New York, while two years
previously, in London, Rosenthal played a fortyfive-minute recital for BBC Radio which was
broadcast live. Fortunately, a private individual
had just acquired a home disc-cutter and

2012 Jonathan Summers

15

A Note On the Recordings

BY WARD MARSTON
This five-CD set contains all of Moriz Rosenthals
known recordings, including three recently
discovered sides and one previously unknown
alternative take. Over the years of Rosenthals
recording career, he made records for no fewer
than six companies: US Victor; Thomas A Edison
Inc; Lindstrm group (Odeon & Parlophone);
Ultraphon; and EMI. Since the recordings of each
company have distinctive sonic characteristics,
we have decided to present them by record label
in more or less chronological sequence, diverging
only occasionally for the sake of musical continuity. Because of the extreme differences in
sound quality, a few words about the recordings
and the challenges of remastering them may help
the listener to understand why they sound as
they do.
Many of the records presented here are
exemplary for their sonic presence and their
ability to capture both the grandeur and delicacy
of Rosenthals artistry. The 1928 Victor recording
of his Blue Danube Waltz Paraphrase is one of
the finest-sounding records on this set. One can
only wish that he had made additional recordings
on that occasion. The present transfer was made
from quiet vinyl discs pressed from the original
metal masters, permitting us to hear this marvellous performance in the best possible sound.
The most difficult records to listen to in this
set are the Edison recordings (CD 1, tracks 532),
where one is bombarded by a virtual wall of
surface noise, at times almost obliterating
Rosenthals softer playing. The primary reason
for this is that the recordings were cut at such a
low level that the noise masks the sound of the
piano. One must understand that Edison was the
16

The second group of recordings requiring our

attention is the series of discs made by the
Lindstrm Company and issued on either the
Odeon or Parlophone labels in Germany, France,
Spain, England, and Japan. His first published
recordings for Lindstrm were two sides cut
in New York City, at the studio of the Okeh
Company, which was affiliated with the
Lindstrm group. The existence of these sides
was unknown until a few years ago when they
were discovered on a 12-inch Argentinian Odeon
disc, now in the private collection of Jon M
Samuels. The Okeh label specialized in popular
music, and we can only speculate as to the
circumstances surrounding the making of these
Rosenthal recordings. They were made in a small
studio suited for popular music, but the sound of
the piano is quite acceptable. The only flaw in
these recordings is a severe pitch flutter, which
thankfully we have been able to remediate by
using recently developed pitch stabilization
technology.
Rosenthals next group of Lindstrm recordings was made in Berlin in 1929. Like many other
Lindstrm recordings of the period, these discs
all suffer from a complete lack of bass frequencies, giving the piano a thin and hollow sound. On
the positive side, the sound level is much higher
than on Edisons discs and consequently, the piano
emerges with greater clarity. Having listened to
many Lindstrm recordings from the late 1920s
and early 1930s, I have heard some examples
with full bass, and others with none at all. I can
only conjecture that the company was experimenting with two, and perhaps three, different
recording systems. Rosenthals 1930 Lindstrm
discs exhibit somewhat more bass but still have
that characteristic Lindstrm sound. Chopins

last major record company to switch from

acoustic to electric recording. By 1927, electrical
recording had become the industry standard but
it wasnt until mid-1928 that the Edison Company
finally developed and began using its own
electrical recording system. The company also
decided to switch from its tried and true verticalcut disc to the lateral system, which was used by
all other major record companies. In the spring
of 1929, when Moriz Rosenthal visited Edisons
New York City recording studio, the engineers
were still ironing out the kinks in their new
system. During his four sessions in March and
April, seven sides were cut, two of them being
issued on opposite sides of one 12-inch lateralcut disc. The same recordings were issued also
as a 10-inch vertical-cut disc. These records were
in print only for a matter of months, since the
Edison Company went out of business later that
year. We are fortunate that shellac test pressings
of all seven sides are preserved at the Thomas
Edison National Historical Park, and for six of
the sides, there exist second takes. With todays
digital technology, some of the noise on these
discs can be suppressed. But the enhancement
of noise reduction comes with the risk of
compromising the sound of the piano, thereby
degrading the performance. In this regard, I feel
that a light hand on the controls is the wisest
course. In remastering these Edison recordings,
a judicious amount of noise reduction has been
applied, with careful attention given to the
preservation of piano tone and attack. Many will
still find the surface noise too obtrusive for easy
enjoyment, but listening beyond the noise, one
can hear truly astounding performances, in
particular, the two Chopin etudes (CD 1, tracks
23 and 24).
17

had to be taken from APRs previous issue since

the original masters are no longer available.
These recordings are flawed by a noticeable
electronic hum at about 180 Hz and detectable
pitch wow which might be the cause for them
being rejected. In the present transfers, these
defects have been substantially attenuated.
Remastering the remainder of the EMI recordings was an absolute delight, as I had at hand
several mint condition copies of each disc.
Rosenthals Victor discs from 1939 and 1942
were unpublished as 78rpm discs but were
briefly available on a 1957 LP. I have remastered
these recordings from mint vinyl test pressings.
These discs were recorded in what sounds like
a small room, and Rosenthal sounds decidedly
uncomfortable in this confined space. His playing
is much stiffer than on the 1937 EMI recordings.
Yet at times, we can still here a glimmer of his
former greatness. He tosses off Handels
Harmonious Blacksmith with ease, and there
are a few exquisite moments in Chopins B minor
Sonata. Alternative takes of the 2nd and 4th
movements are issued here for the first time.
2012 Ward Marston

E minor Concerto, recorded on six 10-inch and

four 12-inch sides, is quite scarce on original 78s
and justifiably coveted by collectors. As I
remastered this recording, I marvelled at so
many lovely details of Rosenthals playing, and
yet, it is a sonically disappointing recording. The
first movement exhibits plenty of bass, although
the piano is somewhat too remote. In the second
movement, the bass is cut, and in the final movement, not only is there no bass, but the perspective of the piano completely changes, and the
recording becomes harsh and shrill. I thought
that by adding some artificial reverberation, the
sound might be improved, but ultimately, I
decided against it.
Rosenthals EMI recordings, all made at
Abbey Road Studio 3, were a joy to remaster. His
first EMI session took place in 1934, yielding four
sides, none of which was published at the time.
Shellac test pressings of these sides were
preserved and are held by the Historic Sound
Recordings Archive at Yale University. The
present remastering is taken from recently made
excellent transfers of the original pressings. The
March 1935 sessions, also unpublished on 78rpm,

18

Producer, restoration & remastering: Ward Marston

Audio assistance: J Richard Harris, Andrew Rose, and Aaron Z Snyder
With thanks to Gregor Benko, Bryan Crimp, Raymond J Edwards
and the International Piano Archives at University of Maryland
Special thanks to Donald Manildi for his discographic assistance
Executive Producer: Michael Spring

APR wishes to thank

The Thomas Edison National Historical Park, the National Park Service, and the United States
Department of the Interior for conserving and sharing rare recorded treasures
CD 1 tracks 5 32, A to D transfers by Gerald Fabris
The following selections are remastered from rare discs in the private collection of John M Samuels:
CD 1 tracks 2 4 and CD 2 tracks 3 7. A to D transfers of these discs were made by Jon M Samuels
The following selections are remastered from unique test pressings in the
Stephen B Fasset collection at the Yale archive of Historical Sound recordings, Yale Music Library:
CD 3 tracks 7 9. A to D transfers of these test pressings were made by
Richard Warren, Sara N Marks, and Mark Bailey
CD 5 Track 10 by kind permission of the British Library

19

APR 7503