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Edison's Piano
Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 4:45 pm
by Torjazzer
No, not the title of a pretentious novel. A question: Edison had a Lauter concert grand piano but was this the instrument used for the Rachmaninoff sessions of 1919?
I've heard the recordings and they don't sound like those of an upright.
Re: Edison's Piano
Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 5:13 pm
by 52089
Multiple Internet sources, mostly re-quoting and/or paraphrasing each other, indicate that the piano was an upright.
Re: Edison's Piano
Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 5:20 pm
by Torjazzer
52089 wrote:Multiple Internet sources, mostly re-quoting and/or paraphrasing each other, indicate that the piano was an upright.
I've always heard the same. However I now run into the same 'information' as found here:
http://aepiano.ca/index.php/history-of- ... 689-lauter
Re: Edison's Piano
Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 5:48 pm
by Torjazzer
Re: Edison's Piano
Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2015 10:34 pm
by larryh
Just from hearing a lot of various Edison classical recordings I would say that the tonal quality most likely is that of a grand piano. Some of the pop things seem to be a upright due to the sound.
Larry
Re: Edison's Piano
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 12:22 am
by wjw
I don't imagine that Rachmaninoff would have recorded playing on Edison's upright.
To my ear Victor did a better job recording him.
Re: Edison's Piano
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 4:44 pm
by Lenoirstreetguy
It's pretty certain that Edison did use an upright for the Rachmaninoff recordings. Edison lost Rachmaninoff to Victor for two main reasons: Rachmaninoff's dissatisfaction with the upright piano and the fact that the company issued recordings from masters that Rachmaninoff hadn't approved. He was very fussy that way. I wrote about this in an earlier post on this issue.
Jim
Re: Edison's Piano
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 8:52 am
by Victrolacollector
I would like to get ahold of the two Rachmaninoff records for Edison.
How much is a fair price to pay for these,
I remember a couple in e-bay for 175.00.
Re: Edison's Piano
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 9:12 am
by 52089
Victrolacollector wrote:I would like to get ahold of the two Rachmaninoff records for Edison.
How much is a fair price to pay for these,
I remember a couple in e-bay for 175.00.
Rachmaninoff recorded 10 sides for Edison that were released on 5 discs. Although desirable, they are not particularly rare and do show up. One of our board members recently sold one to me for $20, and the only reason I was willing to pay that much was that is was a later paper label pressing in near mint shape.
Here's a list of Rachmaninoff's early recordings. The first 5 sessions are the Edison sessions.
http://gmlile.com/rachdiary/listingroleD.aspx?d=true