The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Has anyone heard of this remarkable pianist; any have any of her records? Never came across her until today, when researching 1920s/30s novelty pianists some more. Born of Portuguese heritage in South African in 1905, she moved to Britain in the mid-1920s to further her pianist career; died in 1934 (a year after this clip for British Pathé) at age 29; wonder what caused her early death? Perhaps tubercular? Looks awfully thin here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tiiXbFUroc

Yes, she's really good. Wonder if she made some records? Marc.

marcapra wrote:Yes, she's really good. Wonder if she made some records? Marc.

There are many of her records on YouTube.

marcapra wrote:Yes, she's really good. Wonder if she made some records? Marc.

She made several records for Parlophone and HMV in the late 1920's and early 30's. I always buy them when I come across them, which is quite often. There are even 3 reissue cd's of her work, but unfortunately they are terribly over-filtered, especially the last 2.

bart1927 wrote:

marcapra wrote:Yes, she's really good. Wonder if she made some records? Marc.

She made several records for Parlophone and HMV in the late 1920's and early 30's. I always buy them when I come across them, which is quite often. There are even 3 reissue cd's of her work, but unfortunately they are terribly over-filtered, especially the last 2.

Hi Bart,
Yesterday I ordered (from Amazon) a CD from the series "Piano Wizards of the Gershwin Era" (or a title close to that). I ordered the Pollock & Mering one--but see that they also had one for da Costa. How do you judge the quality of that series? What's the one da Costa CD that's better than the two others?

Ralph

pughphonos wrote:

bart1927 wrote:

marcapra wrote:Yes, she's really good. Wonder if she made some records? Marc.

She made several records for Parlophone and HMV in the late 1920's and early 30's. I always buy them when I come across them, which is quite often. There are even 3 reissue cd's of her work, but unfortunately they are terribly over-filtered, especially the last 2.

Hi Bart,
Yesterday I ordered (from Amazon) a CD from the series "Piano Wizards of the Gershwin Era" (or a title close to that). I ordered the Pollock & Mering one--but see that they also had one for da Costa. How do you judge the quality of that series? What's the one da Costa CD that's better than the two others?

Ralph

I was unfamiliar with that cd, so I can't comment on that. I was actually referring to the 3 cd's produced by Shellwood Productions.

bart1927 wrote:I was unfamiliar with that cd, so I can't comment on that. I was actually referring to the 3 cd's produced by Shellwood Productions.

Thanks; I'll go in search of those.

Raie da Costa is so darned inspiring! Check this out, which she recorded for Parlophone; it's called "Doll's House":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThE_bMy4ZXI

I just bought a copy via E-bay from Britain.

I think I have a thing for female novelty pianists of the 1920s and 1930s. By themselves they don't do much for/to me, but add the piano and--as Hildegarde would have said, Ou la la!

bart1927 wrote:

marcapra wrote:Yes, she's really good. Wonder if she made some records? Marc.

She made several records for Parlophone and HMV in the late 1920's and early 30's. I always buy them when I come across them, which is quite often. There are even 3 reissue cd's of her work, but unfortunately they are terribly over-filtered, especially the last 2.

Bart, Raie is amazing! How could I not have known about this amazing artist for so long? Her playing is perfect to my tastes: perfectly even in meter, but still with tons of shading and emphasis--tons of style and JOY. What an amazing technique!!!

I was on E-bay last night and ordered an HMV copy of the following recording:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq64K87uCRk


Ralph