Friedheim plays Liszt ~ Transcendental Etude 11 ~ 'Harmonies du Soir'. Roll recording C.1905.

Arthur Friedheim once recalled a practise lesson from Liszt late one afternoon and whilst playing this piece, the master pointed towards the window at the delicate, mellow rays of the setting sun and said, “Play that! THESE are your evening harmonies!” Friedheim produced two recordings on piano roll, the latter being for Duo-art and the earliest here being for Hupfeld which can be regarded as the very first recording of this work. For present day listeners the interpretation can be perplexing but very interesting as Friedheim was intimate with Liszt's whole philosophy and perhaps may give a clue as to the piano style of Liszt himself. No doubt some will complain that the interpretation is 'wrong', with somewhat erratic tempo variations, however this is not due to some imagined mechanical fault - this is how Friedheim played it. This Etude was also recorded by Josef Weiss, another Liszt pupil and can be heard on this channel. Each has their own playing style and it is interesting to compare.