Topic: Sarasate Zigeunerweisen Berthe Marx-Goldschmidt

Found this exciting performance by French pianist Berthe Marx-Goldschmidt at the Stanford University Piano Roll Archive. She's playing her own transcription. The piano is my 1922 Erard modified

https://hearthis.at/robertrivard/berthe...isen-1905/

Hope everyone's having a great day. Stay well and safe!

Cheers,
Robert

Re: Sarasate Zigeunerweisen Berthe Marx-Goldschmidt

Really satisfying to hear this, thanks Robert - that this is possible at all - quite phenomenal! Love her playing BTW, interesting musician.

Wishing the best.

Pianoteq Studio Bundle (Pro plus all instruments)  - Kawai MP11 digital piano - Yamaha HS8 monitors

Re: Sarasate Zigeunerweisen Berthe Marx-Goldschmidt

Qexl wrote:

Really satisfying to hear this, thanks Robert - that this is possible at all - quite phenomenal! Love her playing BTW, interesting musician.

Wishing the best.

Thank you, Qexl. Yes, she was an interesting musician with a fascinating life story. I love her playing, too. Her variety of touch comes through quite well rendering the midi through Pianoteq. I don't think sampled software would achieve this, like the change of colour when she uses the soft pedal.

It amazes me how each pianist gets a different sound out of the same fxp just as would happen in real life and to see the pedals go up and down and how each pianist uses them to colour the sound has been an education.

Pleased you enjoyed this!

Wishing you the best,
Robert

Re: Sarasate Zigeunerweisen Berthe Marx-Goldschmidt

algorhythms wrote:

Her variety of touch comes through quite well rendering the midi through Pianoteq. I don't think sampled software would achieve this, like the change of colour when she uses the soft pedal

Exactly - we hear her as if she's right there, playing exquisitely and vividly for us.. just so amazing to hear a reproduction as you've created it, from piano roll MIDI from an actual performance so long ago (which I assume was not actually recorded, but just went straight to the piano roll co or publisher).

Rendered with a great sounding Pianoteq instrument of today, itself derived from physical modelling.. awesome.. it's the closest we can get to bringing these performances to 'real life' IMO - stunning.

Pianoteq Studio Bundle (Pro plus all instruments)  - Kawai MP11 digital piano - Yamaha HS8 monitors

Re: Sarasate Zigeunerweisen Berthe Marx-Goldschmidt

Wowee! Most enjoyable, thanks for posting.
For comparison, here's Sarasate's own audio recording - from 1904 (abridged version, due to limitations of early gramophone technology): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABm7nMVyNh4

Re: Sarasate Zigeunerweisen Berthe Marx-Goldschmidt

Qexl wrote:
algorhythms wrote:

Her variety of touch comes through quite well rendering the midi through Pianoteq. I don't think sampled software would achieve this, like the change of colour when she uses the soft pedal

Exactly - we hear her as if she's right there, playing exquisitely and vividly for us.. just so amazing to hear a reproduction as you've created it, from piano roll MIDI from an actual performance so long ago (which I assume was not actually recorded, but just went straight to the piano roll co or publisher).

Rendered with a great sounding Pianoteq instrument of today, itself derived from physical modelling.. awesome.. it's the closest we can get to bringing these performances to 'real life' IMO - stunning.

Thank you, Qexl. So pleased to hear I have the sound of this fxp so vivid. The Stanford University Piano Roll Archive scans the piano rolls and the resulting "expressive" MIDI as they call it is downloadable. I think a special scanner was created for their project but whatever they're doing every nuance can now be heard thanks to the geniuses at Modartt! All I had to do was render it.

Best wishes,
Robert

Re: Sarasate Zigeunerweisen Berthe Marx-Goldschmidt

dazric wrote:

Wowee! Most enjoyable, thanks for posting.
For comparison, here's Sarasate's own audio recording - from 1904 (abridged version, due to limitations of early gramophone technology): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABm7nMVyNh4

You're welcome, dazric! I enjoyed hearing Sarasate playing it himself and the audio is quite good for the time. Thank you for posting it.

Is that his voice heard just before the final allegro section? Amazing to hear in the finale the pizzicato notes popping up in the passage work. If my ears are correct, Berthe Marx-Goldschmidt creates a similar effect of playing those pizzicato notes by playing with her left hand crossing over her right hand.

Pleased you enjoyed this!

Best wishes,
Robert

Re: Sarasate Zigeunerweisen Berthe Marx-Goldschmidt

Yes, I think it is generally assumed to be Sarasate's voice in the recording - probably saying something like 'let's skip to the next section' (just before the end of the first side of the disc).

Re: Sarasate Zigeunerweisen Berthe Marx-Goldschmidt

dazric wrote:

Yes, I think it is generally assumed to be Sarasate's voice in the recording - probably saying something like 'let's skip to the next section' (just before the end of the first side of the disc).

I thought that might be his voice and what he said, too. There's a recording of Francis Planté playing a Chopin Etude and he misses the last note and he's heard saying "merde!" I find it reassuring that someone of his calibre is not always perfect and says what most of us do at times.

Moderators. I hope that's okay to post...

Last edited by algorhythms (23-02-2021 04:43)

Re: Sarasate Zigeunerweisen Berthe Marx-Goldschmidt

I love hearing some of the quirky things that go on in those old recordings.