Leopold Godowsky (piano) - Polonaise in A flat, Op. 53 (Chopin) (1925)

Описание: Leopold Godowsky plays an abridged version of Chopin's 'Polonaise in A flat,' recorded by Brunswick in New York in October 1925.

I transferred this side from an Australian pressing of Brunswick 50078.

From Wikipedia: Leopold Godowsky (13 February 1870 – 21 November 1938) was a Russian-born American virtuoso pianist, composer and teacher. He was one of the most highly regarded performers of his time...

Godowsky was born in Žasliai (then Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire, now Lithuania) to parents of Jewish ancestry...

His talent manifested itself very early, and by age five Godowsky was already composing and becoming proficient on both piano and violin. He gave his first concert at age nine, and toured throughout Lithuania and East Prussia soon afterwards. Although he received a few lessons in his childhood, Godowsky was almost completely self-taught...

After briefly studying...in Berlin he left for the United States, where he made his first concert appearance in Boston in 1884. In 1885–86 Godowsky continued his American career... In 1887 he returned to Europe and gave numerous recitals in Paris and London...

In 1890 he returned to the United States and [joined] the staff of the New York College of Music. On 30 April 1891 Godowsky married Frieda Saxe, a childhood friend, and the day after his marriage became a citizen of the United States...He settled in Chicago, where he taught at the Chicago Conservatory...

Together with Teresa Carreño, Godowsky was the first pianist to teach the principle of weight release as distinct from purely muscular momentum; also during the same decade, the first of Godowsky's studies on Chopin études were composed and published, later to become part of a large series, one of Godowsky's most famous works. In 1897–98 Godowsky further cemented his fame by giving a series of eight concerts surveying the entire 19th century repertoire...

[In 1900] he moved to Berlin, again dividing his time between performing and teaching and giving a concert tour every year. In 1909 he took over Busoni's master classes at the Vienna Academy of Music, where he continued to teach until 1914. [From 1912-1914] Godowsky gave several concerts in the United States and also made his first gramophone records there.

In 1914...he went back to the United States... Much of the 1920s was spent touring around the world...

However, while Godowsky's career prospered, his personal life slowly started falling apart. His wife Frieda fell seriously ill in 1924 and her health continued deteriorating ever since. In 1928 Godowsky's son Gordon abandoned his studies and married a vaudeville dancer, causing his father to disown him.

After the Wall Street Crash of 1929 Godowsky's financial situation worsened. A string of recordings the pianist began in London in 1928, as well as public concerts, would have remedied the problem; however, both activities were cut short by an unexpected disaster: during a recording session on 17 June 1930, just after completing Chopin's E major Scherzo, the pianist suffered a severe stroke which left him partially paralysed. Godowsky's remaining years were overshadowed by the event, leaving him deeply depressed.

In December 1932 Gordon Godowsky committed suicide, and a year later Godowsky's wife died of a heart attack. The pianist... continued playing piano for friends and admirers, but never gave public performances...

After spending much of 1937 and 1938 suffering from various health problems, Godowsky died of stomach cancer on 21 November 1938, at the age of 68. He is buried in the Temple Israel Cemetery in Westchester county, New York...

Godowsky was one of the most highly regarded pianists of his time, praised by listeners, colleagues, and critics alike. Arthur Rubinstein remarked that it would take him 'five hundred years to get a mechanism like [Godowsky's]'...

Even those who disliked Godowsky's interpretations usually acknowledged his tremendous technical gifts: Claudio Arrau, for example, declared Godowsky 'one of the greatest technicians,' even though he considered his playing 'boring' and complained that Godowsky 'never played above mezzo-forte.'

Godowsky's vast repertoire spanned more than two centuries of music, from contemporary music to that of Rameau and Lully, whose music he transcribed. Although he regularly played public concerts until 1930, Godowsky was plagued by stage fright, and particularly disliked the recording studio, like many performers of his time...
Consequently, it was acknowledged that Godowsky's best work was not in public or in the recording studio, but at home. After leaving Godowsky's home one night, Josef Hofmann told Abram Chasins: 'Never forget what you heard tonight; never lose the memory of that sound. There is nothing like it in the world. It is tragic that the world has never heard Popsy as only he can play.'