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17 From Franz Liszt 1911 James Gibbons Huneker “You ask how [Liszt] played? As no one before him, and as no one probably will ever again. I remember when I ¤rst went to him as a boy—he was in Rome at the time—he used to play for me in the evening by the hour—nocturnes by Chopin, études of his own—all of a soft, dreamy nature that caused me to open my eyes in wonder at the marvellous delicacy and ¤nish of his touch. The embellishments were like a cobweb—so ¤ne—or like the texture of costliest lace. I thought, after what I had heard in Vienna, that nothing further would astonish me in the direction of digital dexterity, having studied with Joseffy, the greatest master of that art. But Liszt was more wonderful than anybody I had ever known, and he had further surprises in store for me. I had never heard him play anything requiring force, and, in view of his advanced age, took for granted that he had fallen off from what he had once been.” (“Liszt Pupils and Lisztiana,” 367–368) * * * Setting aside Tausig—and this is only hearsay—the word “pianism”has never matched Rosenthal for speed, power, endurance; nor is this all. He is both musical and intellectual. He is a doctor of philosophy, a bachelor of arts. He has read everything, is a linguist, has traveled the globe over, and in conversation his unerring memory and brilliant wit set him as a man apart. To top all these gifts, he plays his instrument magni¤cently, overwhelmingly. He is the Napoleon , the conqueror among virtuosi. His tone is very sonorous, his touch singing , and he commands the entire range of nuance from the rippling ¤oritura of the Chopin barcarolle to the cannon-like thunderings of the A-®at polonaise. His octaves and chords baf®e all critical experience and appraisement. As others play presto in single notes, so he dashes off double notes, thirds, sixths, and octaves . His Don Juan Fantasie, part Liszt, part Mozart, is entirely Rosenthalian in performance. He has composed at his polyphonic forge a Humoreske [on Strauss waltzes]. Its interweaving of voices, their independence, the caprice and audacity of it all are astounding. Tausig had such a technic; yet surely Tausig had not the brazen, thunderous climaxes of this broad-shouldered young man! He is the epitome of the orchestra and in a tonal duel with the orchestra he has never been worsted. His interpretations of the classics, of the romantics, are of a superior order. He played the last sonatas of Beethoven or the Schumann Carnaval with equal discrimination. His touch is crystal-like in its clearness, therefore his tone lacks the sensuousness of Paderewski and De Pachmann. But it is a mistake to set him down as a mere unemotional mechanician. He is in reality a Superman among pianists.1 (“Modern Pianoforte Virtuosi,” 431–432) From Franz Liszt 73 ...

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