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Home , Fritz Kreisler

ADD Great Violinists • Kreisler 8.111409

THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS • 8

BACH MENDELSSOHN BRAHMS TCHAIKOVSKY DEBUSSY FALLA KREISLER

Fritz Kreisler Recorded 1926-1927 Fritz Kreisler (1875–1962): Electrola-Gesellschaft m.b.H. Manuel de Falla (Berlin, 1926, Studio & Singakademie*) The Complete Recordings • 8 ( Act II: Danza española No. 1 (arr. Kreisler) 3:20 with Fritz Kreisler, ; rec. 15 December 1926; Michael Raucheisen, piano mat. Bw-647-2A; unpublished on 78rpm Electrical Recordings (continued) Sergey Rachmaninov (1873–1943) 7 with Fritz Kreisler, violin Victor Talking Machine Company Albumblatt, Op. 38, No. 3 ‘Daisies’ 2:44 Manuel de Falla (1876–1946) (Camden, NJ, 1926) (arr. Kreisler) La vida breve (1685–1750) rec. 8 April 1926; # Act II: Danza española No. 1 (arr. Kreisler) 3:22 Violin Sonata No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001* with Fritz Kreisler, violin; mat. BVE-35129-4; Victor 1170 rec. 8 December 1926; ) I. Adagio 4:07 Carl Lamson, piano mat. Bw-611-2A; unpublished on 78rpm rec. 16 December 1926; Franz Lehár mat. CwR-642-1A; HMV DB 995 Edwin Henry Lemare (1865–1934) Frasquita 1 8 (1833–1897) Andantino Serenade (arr. Kreisler) 2:14 $ Hungarian Dance No. 17 (arr. Kreisler) 4:11 Victor Talking Machine Company (Moonlight and Roses) Op. 83, No. 2 3:16 rec. 9 April 1926; rec. 8 December 1926; (Studio 3 & Trinity Church**, (arr. Gustav Saenger, 1865–1935) mat. BVE-35124-10; Victor 1158 mat. Cw-612-2; Victor 6706 Camden, NJ, 1927) rec. 7 April 1926; with Fritz Kreisler, violin; mat. BVE-35121-2; Victor 1165 Victor Talking Machine Company Claude Debussy (1862–1918) Carl Lamson, piano (, NY, 1926) Préludes, Book 1 2:38 Charles Wakefield Cadman(1881–1946) % 2 VIII. The Girl with the Flaxen Hair Irving Berlin (1888–1989) At Dawning, Op. 29, No. 1 2:33 with Fritz Kreisler, violin; (arr. Arthur Hartmann, 1881–1956) Betsy (arr. Karl Rissland, 1872?–1960) Carl Lamson, piano rec. 8 December 1926; ¡ Blue Skies (arr. Kreisler) 3:37 rec. 7 April 1926; mat. Bw-613-1A; unpublished on 78rpm rec. 17 March 1927; mat. BVE-35122-3; Victor 1165 Fritz Kreisler (1875–1962) 9 mat. BVE-38215-5; Victor 1233 Caprice viennois, Op. 2 3:35 with Fritz Kreisler, violin; Franz Lehár (1870–1948) rec. 14 April 1926; 3 Arpád Sándor, piano Rudolf Friml (1879–1972) ‘Kreisler’ Serenade 3:09 mat. CVE-8940-17; Victor 6692 ™ Dance of the Maidens, Op. 48** 2:22 rec. 7 April 1926; 0 (1879–1970) (arr. Kreisler) mat. BVE-35123-4; Victor 1158 Liebesfreud 3:10 ^ Lotus Land, Op. 47, No. 1 (arr. Kreisler) 4:07 rec. 17 March 1927; rec. 14 April 1926; rec. 14 December 1926; mat. BVE-38216-7; Victor 1233 Elwyn Owen (????–????) mat. CVE-8951-9; Victor 6608 mat. Cw-621-2A; Victor 6706 4 Invocation (arr. Kreisler) 3:30 ! Fritz Kreisler rec. 8 April 1926; Liebesleid 3:23 (1809–1847) £ Altdeutsches Schäfer-Madrigal 4:20 mat. BVE-35127-2; Victor 1209 rec. 14 April 1926; Song Without Words (‘Old German Shepherd’s Madrigal’) mat. CVE-8950-6; Victor 6608 & May Breezes, Op. 62, No. 1 (arr. Kreisler) 2:44 rec. 17 March 1927; Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908) 5 @ rec. 14 December 1926; mat. CVE-38219-6; Victor 6712 Oriental Romance Liebesleid 3:21 mat. Cw-622-2A; HMV DB 1000 (The Nightingale and the Rose, Op. 2, No. 2) 2:26 rec. 14 April 1926; ¢ Altdeutsches Schäfer-Madrigal 4:27 (arr. Jacques Gordon, 1899–1948) mat. CVE-8950-7; Victor 6608 Claude Debussy (‘Old German Shepherd’s Madrigal’) rec. 8 April 1926; Petite Suite rec. 17 March 1927; mat. BVE-35128-1; Victor 1209 * I. En bateau 3:24 mat. CVE-38219-8 (arr. Gaston Choisnel, 1857–1921) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) 6 rec. 14 December 1926; Thanks to John Bolig, Mark Stehle Humoresque, Op. 10, No. 2 (arr. Kreisler) 2:22 mat. Bw-643-1; unpublished on 78rpm and Richard Harris rec. 8 April 1926; mat. BVE-31872-6; Victor 1170 Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) He donated his fee to the Society’s Foundation Fund. It was matrices of three of Kreisler’s most successful compositions the centenary of Beethoven’s death and HMV had just issued and they became the classic versions: his Caprice viennois hit The Complete Recordings • 8 Kreisler’s recording of the Concerto with , so the jackpot on Take 17 (the fourth on that day), Liebesfreud on It was our good fortune that electrical recording arrived in Handel, Rimsky-Korsakov, Schubert-Kreisler and Hubay. Londoners could compare the discs with the live experience. Take 9 (second of two takes that day) and Liebesleid on both 1925, just in time to catch the beautiful tones of Fritz Kreisler In the autumn of 1926 Kreisler played in Dublin and also ‘To give a supreme performance of Beethoven’s concerto that day’s attempts, Takes 6 and 7, which were both published. and Beniamino Gigli, to name only two, at their peaks. The in Paris, where heard him with Philippe ... remains the highest attainment of the violinist, and few Kreisler’s next sessions took place at the Electrola year covered by the recordings on this album, from April Gaubert conducting. ‘It was divine!’ Milstein recalled. ‘Bach’s have attained as Mr Kreisler has’, The Times thundered. ‘He studios, Berlin, on 8 December 1926, with the great German 1926 to March 1927, was as busy as ever for Kreisler. He and E major, Beethoven’s, Mendelssohn’s, and Viotti’s No. 22 articulates every detail within the sweep of his wonderfully accompanist Michael Raucheisen. Of 14 takes of three pieces, his wife Harriet arrived in New York on the liner SS Paris concertos – what more could I want? It was the realisation of pure cantilena, and everything is vital without carrying the only the 12-inch title, Brahms’s Hungarian Dance No. 17, on 13 January 1926 for a North American tour which began my dreams. I had first become acquainted with Kreisler’s art least suggestion of hurry or excitement. ... The slow movement was issued – by Victor. Takes of the two 10-inch titles, Falla’s in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and took him as far north as through his recordings. Over in Russia I had bought everything was outstanding for sheer beauty of tone, and it is rare to hear Danza española and Debussy’s The Girl with the Flaxen Toronto. Kreisler told the press that he had left his Strad behind by him that I could lay my hands upon.’ In , Harriet that episode of the finale, in which the violin and first bassoon Hair, survived and they are presented here. On 11 December, in Vienna and would be using his Vuillaume and Guarneri del concluded her relief work: she had collected some $500,000 in become duettists, played with that unforced intimacy which Kreisler and the Hungarian pianist Arpád Sándor attempted a Gesù, as he felt were as sensitive as human beings. America and was able to distribute the final tranche of $64,000 Mr Kreisler brings to it.’ On 9 June Kreisler played at the Royal couple of 12-inch takes of Cyril Scott’s Lotus Land. They were ‘They breathe and pulsate with a million vibrations,’ he said. among Viennese charities. Kreisler had an arduous tour of Albert Hall, with Charlton Keith at the piano, in aid of Queen successful on the 14th and the Scott piece became the discmate ‘They have a nervous system and an arterial system. I always Scandinavia; but he was in Berlin by early December to make Mary’s Hospital for the East End. King George and Queen for the Hungarian Dance on Victor, while the other 12-inch give my best instruments a rest of at least six months.’ New records and on the 18th received a medal from the Austrian Mary were in the royal box with the president of the hospital, matrix from that day, Mendelssohn’s May Breezes, was used York society was buzzing with the bargains to be had at the minister to Germany, Dr Felix Frank, in recognition of his Prince Henry, and the programme took in the Mendelssohn as a filler for the Mendelssohn Concerto with Blech on HMV sale of Viscount Leverhulme’s $2 million collection, and the financial contributions for starving Austrian children. While Concerto. Writing of the quality of Kreisler’s playing, The DB 1000. On the 15th they made 15 takes of seven pieces, the Kreislers attended the first day in February, Fritz acquiring there, he gave a concert in aid of the city’s needy children and Times commented: ‘The fine-drawn phrases have the delicacy sole survivor being a test pressing of Falla’s Danza española. a 1779 mahogany inlaid tea caddy for $140. Clearly with a set up a fund for indigent students at the University. of a spider’s thread, the suppleness of elastic, and the strength A filler was also needed for the BeethovenConcerto and on 16 view to furnishing their new Berlin house, Harriet went to Early in 1927 the Kreislers were back in New York, where of steel. With the tiniest stream of sound he was able in the December Kreisler preceded the orchestral session with three the next two days, coming away with a beadwork picture and Harriet received the Golden Cross of Honour of Austria, large spaces and the distorting acoustics of the Albert Hall to takes of something really precious, the opening Adagio from an oval silk panel, both c. 1640; two pairs of Sheffield plate presented by the consul general in recognition of her work give the most subtle shape to everything he played.’ Bach’s G minor Sonata, one of his few unaccompanied records candlesticks (one of Adam design); a pair of Sheraton painted for the Vienna Children’s Milk Fund. Typically she sold the Our first eight tracks here find Kreisler in Victor’s Camden, and our sole glimpse of his solo Bach style. armchairs, c. 1795; seven fingerbowls; and a Georgian wall jewelled cross, worth $200, in aid of charity, and did the same New Jersey studios – on the fifth floor of Victor Building 15, We next meet Kreisler back in Studio 3, Camden, New mirror. It all added up to $1,725. She bid fiercely for an early with a costly decoration Fritz received from the Portuguese. where the smallish Studio 3 was situated – continuing his Jersey, on the morning of 17 March 1927. He and Carl Lamson Georgian cream lacquer cabinet but had to let it go to a dealer As it happens, we have the programme Kreisler gave in the recordings under the new five-year contract he had signed in made 13 takes of five pieces, of which only Irving Berlin’s hit for $2,700. Municipal Auditorium in Portland, Oregon, on 25 February: 1925. On 7 April 1926 he set down 22 takes of four titles. He song Blue Skies and Kreisler’s own Old German Shepherd’s On 20 February Kreisler gave the first of three recitals at he and Carl Lamson started with Mozart’s B flat Sonata, was successful with the Andantino – also known as Moonlight Madrigal gave rise to publishable matrices. In the afternoon , featuring Bach’s B minor Partita, Corelli’s La K454, then came the Adagio and Fugue from Bach’s solo and Roses – by the American-based English organist and they repaired to Trinity Church, which Victor used as a studio, folia, Vieuxtemps’s D minor Concerto, Beethoven’s C minor Violin Sonata in G minor and Corelli’s La folia; in the second Edwin Lemare; Charles Wakefield Cadman’s song to make eight takes of four of the same pieces. Rudolf Friml’s Sonata and short pieces. While in New York he gave a recital half they played Tartini’s Variations, Tchaikovsky’s Andante At Dawning; and the Serenade that Franz Lehár had written Dance of the Maidens succeeded this time, and a test of Take 8 for Brooklyn Academy at the Brooklyn Institute, something cantabile, Cyril Scott’s Lotus Land, Debussy’s En bateau, for him. Another Lehár Serenade, from Frasquita, went of Old German Shepherd’s Madrigal survived – we place both which had become an annual event. Lehár’s Frasquita Serenade and Falla’s Danza española. On through five takes which were not liked. The following day 27 versions of this piece together, so that listeners can compare On 26 March he heard that his old friend Franz 27 March, Kreisler played at the Metropolitan Opera House takes were achieved: Annie Harrison’s song In the Gloaming the different acoustics. Kneisel, quartet leader and former Boston Symphony in aid of the American Society for the Control of Cancer: this was a six-take failure and never achieved publication; On these records we can hear wonderful examples of concertmaster, had died of peritonitis in a New York was another of Harriet’s schemes – it was she who, unknown Ethelbert Nevin’s Mighty Lak’ a Rose similarly needed six parlando bowing, on the Debussy and Irving Berlin; many hospital aged 61. In the funeral service on the 29th at the to Fritz, hired the Opera House for the evening. ‘I thought it takes without success; but Elwyn Owen’s Invocation, Rimsky- demonstrations of his beautiful double-stopping, obviously an Institute of Musical Art, where Kneisel had taught, Kreisler was one of Harriet’s jokes’, Kreisler said, but the concert raised Korsakov’s Oriental Romance (The Nightingale and the Rose), advantage over a solo voice in the song transcriptions; lovely was one of the pallbearers, with tears streaming down $32,000, more than ten times his usual concert fee. Tchaikovsky’s Humoresque (originally a piano piece) and staccato; and myriad other subtleties such as delicate rhythmic his face. He and Gaston Déthier played the Adagio from The couple’s generosity continued in London in May Rachmaninov’s Daisies all succeeded. The session of 9 April, changes, harmonics and variations in dynamics. The Brahms Bach’s Double Concerto in Kneisel’s memory. By June the and June. On 20 May, Kreisler was at Queen’s Hall to play with 23 takes, was an almost complete wash-out: only the has lovely trills and double-stops, the Rachmaninov has Kreislers were in London. Fritz took part in a musical party Beethoven’s Concerto, Chausson’s Poème and Lalo’s Frasquita piece was passed for release. The 14 April session, easeful turns and trills, the Owen has a magical quiet ending at the Austrian Legation on the 8th, alongside Elisabeth Symphonie espagnole (sans Intermezzo) for the Royal held in the New York studios, looks quite wasteful on paper, in double-stops, and so on. Schumann (Lotte Lehmann had to cancel): he played Philharmonic Society with Sir conducting. with just four of 17 takes accepted, but they were all 12-inch Tully Potter FRITZ KREISLER (1875-1962) Playing Time ADD THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS • 7 79:54 DDD Victor Talking Machine Company (Camden, NJ, 1926) We are indeed fortunate that Fritz with Fritz Kreisler, violin; Carl Lamson, piano 1 Lemare, arr. Saenger: Andantino (Moonlight and Roses), Op. 83, No. 2 3:16 Kreisler was still at the peak of his 2 Cadman, arr. Rissland: At Dawning, Op. 29, No. 1 2:33 powers when electrical recording 3 Lehár: ‘Kreisler’ Serenade 3:09 4 Owen, arr. Kreisler: Invocation 3:30 arrived in 1925. He was as busy as 5 Rimsky-Korsakov, arr. Gordon: Oriental Romance 2:26 ever in the year covered by these (The Nightingale and the Rose, Op. 2, No. 2) 6 Tchaikovsky, arr. Kreisler: Humoresque, Op. 10, No. 2 2:22 recordings, using Vuillaume and 7 Rachmaninov, arr. Kreisler: Albumblatt, Op. 38, No. 3 ‘Daisies 2:44 Guarneri del Gesù violins that he 8 Lehár, arr. Kreisler: Serenade (from Frasquita) 2:14 said ‘breathe and pulsate with a Victor Talking Machine Company (New York, NY, 1926) million vibrations’. On one of his with Fritz Kreisler, violin; Carl Lamson, piano 9 Kreisler: Caprice viennois, Op. 2 3:35 many successful charity concerts 0 Kreisler: Liebesfreud 3:10 in 1927 The Times commented that ! Kreisler: Liebesleid 3:23 @ Kreisler: Liebesleid 3:21 Kreisler’s ‘fine-drawn phrases have the delicacy of a spider’s Electrola-Gesellschaft m.b.H. (Berlin, 1926, Studio & Singakademie*) with Fritz Kreisler, violin; Michael Raucheisen, piano thread, the suppleness of elastic, # Falla, arr. Kreisler: Act II: Danza española No. 1 (from La vida breve) 3:22 and the strength of steel’. With $ Brahms, arr. Kreisler: Hungarian Dance No. 17 4:11 % Debussy, arr. A. Hartmann: The Girl with the Flaxen Hair 2:38 wonderful examples of parlando with Fritz Kreisler, violin; Arpád Sándor, piano bowing, many demonstrations ^ Scott, arr. Kreisler: Lotus Land, Op. 47, No. 1 4:07 & Mendelssohn, arr. Kreisler: May Breezes (Song Without Words, Op. 62, No. 1) 2:44 of beautiful double-stopping, * Debussy; arr. Choisnel: En bateau (from Petite Suite) 3:24 lovely staccato and myriad ( Falla, arr. Kreisler: Act II: Danza española No. 1 (from La vida breve) 3:20 with Fritz Kreisler other subtleties such as delicate ) Bach: Adagio (from Sonata in G minor, BWV 1001)* 4:07 rhythmic changes, harmonics and Victor Talking Machine Company (Studio 3 & Trinity Church**, variations in dynamics, these New Camden, NJ, 1927) with Fritz Kreisler, violin; Carl Lamson, piano York and Berlin sessions include ¡ Berlin, arr. Kreisler: Blue Skies (from Betsy) 3:37 classic versions of Kreisler’s best ™ Friml; arr. Kreisler: Dance of the Maidens, Op. 48 ** 2:22 £ Kreisler: Altdeutsches Schäfer-Madrigal (‘Old German Shepherd’s Madrigal’) 4:20 works and a rare unaccompanied ¢ Kreisler: Altdeutsches Schäfer-Madrigal (‘Old German Shepherd’s Madrigal’) ** 4:27 movement by Bach.

Producer and Audio Restoration Producer: Ward Marston Thanks to John Bolig, Mark Stehle and Richard Harris Cover Image: Fritz Kreisler (year unknown) [Private collection] A complete track list can be found inside the booklet.