Harold Bauer was born 149 years ago and I am celebrating him with two wonderful clips: brief film footage of the wonderful British pianist playing the Chickering Double Keyboard Piano in 1928 and a radio broadcast from 1934.
The original film found at Moving Image Research Collections at the University of South Carolina at this link – another YouTube uploader obscured the logo but also lowered the visual quality of the film, so I opted to re-upload it in full quality and to give credit to the source of the footage.
The New York Times produced this article about the double keyboard pianos that gives a little insight into the attraction of the instrument.
Even in just over a minute, one can appreciate a great deal of Bauer’s artistry: his glorious singing tone, clarity of articulation, buoyant rhythm. One can see that he uses the natural weight of the arm to draw the sound out of the keyboard without ever striking it aggressively, thereby avoiding giving a hard edge to his sonority (something many present-day pianists would do well to learn), and there is never any extraneous movement or any sign of ostentatious showmanship. If only we could find a complete filmed performance of him playing this piece (or any other solo work)!
Those surrounding him, from left to right, are Alma Gluck, Berthold Neuer (general manager of Ampico Hall), Rosa Ponselle, Armand Tokatyan, Walter Kirchoff (of the Metropolitan Opera Company), French Consul Andre Brougere, and Margaret Matzenaur (also of the “Met”).
The description on the MIRS site said that this clip features “outtakes” but I have not seen any reference to the complete footage. Bauer participated in the first musical film productions that included sound in 1926, playing the slow movement of the Beethoven Kreutzer Sonata with violinist Efrem Zimbalist and the Chopin Polonaise in A-Flat Major; the Beethoven film (which is absolutely superb) has been on YouTube for years but I have not come across a source for the Chopin film.
Next, an unreleased November 20, 1934 NBC broadcast that is the only known recording of the great British pianist playing with orchestra. This upload corrects the pitch of the same broadcast shared elsewhere on YouTube. Bauer plays:
0:20 Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 “Emperor” (first movement)
with The General Motors Symphony Orchestra, cond. Artur Rodzinski
17:41 Brahms: Waltz In A-Flat Major Op. 39 No. 15
19:49 Chopin: Scherzo No. 3 in C-Sharp Minor Op. 39
While the orchestral introduction in the Emperor is somewhat truncated and some of the connections between 78rpm disc sides are not smoothly effected, we can nevertheless appreciate Bauer’s marvellous pianism and interpretation. His reading is truly dignified, grand without being bombastic, with clear textures and rhythmic vitality, and he plays throughout with wonderful tonal colours and legato phrasing in lyrical sections.
While Bauer had commercially recorded the Brahms A-Flat Waltz which he plays here (beautifully too, despite the inferior sound in this part of the broadcast), he did not make a studio disc of the Chopin Third Scherzo – another broadcast performance of that work has been posted on YouTube (the sound is better than this one). This reading is like that one also a marvel, with elegant phrasing, beautifully highlighted melodic lines, magnificently balanced voicing in chords, and glorious tone that is appreciable despite the inferior sound quality.
A few years ago I produced this feature article about the artist on this website, which includes biographical information and a number of musical performances, including the wonderful 1926 film above with Zimbalist – a useful introduction to this truly superb pianist who is well worth remembering!