Carl Tausig (1841-1871) did not survive into the recording era.
István Thomán (1862-1940) did not make any discs or rolls.
Vera Timanoff (1855-1942) did not make any discs; made one Liszt roll which is on CD.
Josef Weiss (1864-1918) made Liszt discs and made Liszt rolls, none of which is in
Denis Condon’s collection.
For present purposes ‘the recording era’ is taken to have commenced in 1905, which is
when Welte first issued their first reproducing piano rolls, and is about the time when
piano recordings on 78rpm discs were first issued. It arbitrarily excludes Edison
cylinders, which were first issued in the 1880s.
Of the above 39 Liszt pupils, 5 did not survive into the recording era, namely, Bache,
Bülow, Dayas, Leitert and Tausig.
Of the remaining 34 Liszt pupils, 15 made Liszt rolls, namely, d’Albert, Ansorge,
Burmeister, Friedheim, Lamond, Liebling, Menter, Motta, Reisenauer, Roth, Sauer, Siloti,
Stavenhagen, Timanoff and Weiss.
Of the above 15 Liszt pupils, 11 are represented on the CDs by one or more Liszt rolls.
Those 11 Liszt pupils are d’Albert, Ansorge, Friedheim, Lamond, Liebling, Menter,
Reisenauer, Sauer, Siloti, Stavenhagen and Timanoff. They all studied with Liszt and
were in his inner circle. As well as being established concert pianists they were
composers, conductors, teachers, arrangers, editors. In the 1880s they attended Liszt’s
world famous masterclasses in Weimar, and in some cases Rome and Budapest, where
they performed and heard compositions by Liszt and other composers. They also heard
Liszt play from his own compositions and give inspiration and advice on performance
and interpretation. Some had private lessons as well.
The CDs contain historic, reproducing piano roll recordings of Franz Liszt’s piano works.
The roll recordings themselves were made in the early 1900s by 11 pupils who were all
celebrated virtuoso pianists of the day. The works include many of Liszt’s major and
much-loved compositions and several are played by more than one recording artist thus
enabling different interpretations to be appreciated. They date back to the very earliest
days of the reproducing piano, to January 1905, within 20 years of Liszt’s death in 1886.
Some of the Welte, Duo-Art and Ampico recordings of Liszt’s piano works played by his
pupils were probably issued on these CDs for the first time.
Triphonola piano rolls of Liszt’s piano works played by Liszt pupils are rare and Hupfeld
reproducing pianos (in working order), on which the Triphonola piano rolls were
reproduced, are virtually extinct. This combination of circumstances makes it likely that
the Triphonola roll recordings were issued on these CDs for the first time.