<< Continued from last week

a footnote from

Dan Wilson

I had a step-brother, Peter de Jongh, later Artists' Manager for EMI-Pathé, formerly HMV, in Paris (although he was actually English with a Dutch father), who in the very late 1940s, when he was librarian there, once brought back for his mother in Wales a large stack of soft trial 78rpm pressings of Pachmann in the studio. At the time I gained the impression these were contemporary but of course they must have been twelve years old or more,* a clear-out from the library. These were the 'out-takes' from the issued recordings, in which Pachmann behaved even worse than usual. He would play some Schubert or Chopin** beautifully and then suddenly break off and start reminiscing, or reminding the studio staff that they were listening to a master and should not forget it. You could hear the voice of his keeper, who would reprimand him in German. Much to my surprise, my step-mother, who was a great lover of romantic piano music, later destroyed the lot in a house move. (I was truly horrified. She was a great one for doing that sort of thing.) I suppose though that the metal stampers which produced those soft pressings still survive. Surely HMV would have kept everything - or wouldn't they?

Anyway, one of the stories that had stuck around in the Paris HMV headquarters, and was still active enough in the 1940s for Peter to have heard it, was that on one occasion Pachmann was in the studio and started warming up with part of the Rachmaninov Second Sonata. The session producer asked Pachmann's keeper whether a full recording of this was possible, as it was not on the repertoire he had been handed. The answer was that Pachmann had to be forcibly prevented from playing it in public, because, while being suspicious of Rachmaninov the pianist as a possible competitor, he admired both the 1913 and 1931 versions of the Sonata so much he would play them both, interlaced, with additional repeats. This played havoc with any recital timetable as it made the duration of the Sonata unpredictable - anything up to 45 minutes. It also made an issue on 78s impossible. There are superb things in both versions and I rather sympathise.

* In fact even older - Pachmann's HMV London electrics were recorded between 1925 and c 1928

** No gramophone recordings by Pachmann of Schubert are known. He did, however, cut a piano roll of the F minor Moment musical for Welte-Mignon: 1211

AO

Concluded

The
53rd ALDEBURGH FESTIVAL
starts next Friday