DESCRIPTION:
Ouvertüre zu Tannhäuser, S. 442 (Paraphrase de Concert)

This is a Duo-Art piano roll recording by the great Polish virtuoso pianist Ignaz Friedman (1882-1948) dating from 1921-26, restored and reproduced in modern stereo sound. Here, Friedman plays Franz Liszt's (1811-1886) piano transcription of the overture to the opera "Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg" by Richard Wagner (1813-1883). The technical demands are of this piece are enormous, and this recording is the cleanest rendition I've ever come across, even though Friedman takes some liberties with embellishing a couple runs - which was not uncommon in performances of operatic transcriptions at the time. I usually have mixed feelings about piano roll recordings, but this is certainly a remarkable document of a performance by one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century.