Prokofiev plays Rachmaninoff Prelude in G-minor in a 1919 Duo-Art Recording.

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (1891-1953) plays the Prelude in G minor Op. 23 No. 5 by Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) in this November 1919 Duo-Art piano roll recording, made when Prokofiev was 28 years old. Although other YouTube recordings of this performance exist, they generally don't fully reflect either Prokofiev's abilities or the capabilities of the Duo-Art system. Most are not performed at the proper tempo, probably because this roll demands a Duo-Art instrument in top condition to play both the quiet but very rapidly repeated chords and the rapidly repeated loud chords of the climax. Setting the roll to run slower than intended allows an instrument in subpar repair to still play all of the notes.

There are a number of misconceptions about piano roll performances, among them that the performances are necessarily "jerky" or uncontrolled in tempo. In reality, repeated playing of the same roll duplicates the timing of notes within a few milliseconds, as this clip shows where video of several different takes of the roll playing are superimposed on the audio track of a single recording, with no apparent mismatch. The absolute tempo of the performance is also easy to calibrate. The roll used here is an original 93-year old Duo-Art #6198 paper roll in pristine condition, which Aeolian carefully perforated to give the proper tempo when played at a speed of 9.0 feet per minute. This same recording was reissued in 1929 in an annotated version as roll # A-94 in the US and D-753 in the UK.

In 1919 when this was recorded, Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff were not on the best of terms, apparently having had a disagreement over Rachmaninoff's performance at a 1915 memorial concert for Alexander Scriabin who had died that year at age 43. They were also contracted exclusively to record performances for competitive companies: Rachmaninoff for the Ampico (American Piano Company) and Prokofiev--along with majority of other noted classical performers of the time--for the Duo-Art system of Aeolian Corp. Both reproducing systems of the day had similar capabilities and were big businesses, as they were the best way to record and play high-fidelity piano music a decade or so before the invention of the electric loudspeaker. In fact, some experts believe that they remained the best way to record high-fidelity piano music up until the introduction of the LP in the 1950s. Because of Rachmaninoff's worldwide popularity, Aeolian wanted to issue recordings of his works performed by others, and who better to do it than Prokofiev, the other Russian superstar who was exclusive to them.

The piano is a newly-restored 6'6" Steinway Model OR from 1927, in a burl walnut artcase. The piano and player were completely restored and rebuilt in early 2012 for the instrument's owner near Washington DC. See www.historicpianos.com for more information on reproducing pianos.

Видео Prokofiev plays Rachmaninoff Prelude in G-minor in a 1919 Duo-Art Recording. канала bartolomochristofari