Topics of this Prelude:

Life and Music and Recorded Legacy of Viennese Pianist and Composer Paul Schramm (McGrath, Tom)

A celebrated child prodigy and Leschetizky pupil, Schramm moved to Berlin at the age of 15, from where he based his international career. Later he formed a successful piano duo with his second wife, Diny Soetermeer, performing his own arrangements of lighter music alongside the traditional repertoire. When the Nazis rose to power in 1933, he remained on tour in Indonesia and was joined by Diny before they settled in New Zealand in 1938. During the Second World War he was declared an enemy alien and made a living as a taxi driver. Disheartened after his application for New Zealand citizenship was declined, he moved to Australia where he was naturalised in 1947 and became the most widely heard pianist there in the late 1940s, through enormously popular ‘two bob’ lunch hour recitals, further work in schools and rural educational tours. A suspected rheumatic condition forced him to abandon music and led a solitary life as a travelling salesman until he suffered heart failure and died at the wheel in Woolloongabba, Queensland in 1953. Schramm composed throughout his life, including two operas, orchestral compositions, works, songs, more than 200 piano pieces , and numerous works arrangements for 2 pianos. His style ranged from early salon works, turning to Debussy and Prokofiev-influenced modernism in the 1920s. Always attuned to current developments, he the embraced Jazz and Neue Sachlichkeit. Schramm made a number of recordings throughout his lifetime ranging from piano rolls (including 51 rolls for Hupfeld) in the early 20th century, more recordings in the 1920s and 30s, as well as a series Presenting Paul Schramm of which recordings of 7 of the 26 episodes have survived.

Comparing Red and Licensee Issues of Debussy’s Rolls (Phillips, Peter)

Debussy’s roll recordings have been described by Denis Hall as “rubbish”. Whether one agrees or otherwise, it is clear that the Licensee rolls issued by the Deluxe label show differences to the Red Welte issue. In this presentation I compare Red, Licensee and (sometimes) Green versions of several of Debussy rolls. Certainly there are differences in some roll issues, typically in the operation of the pedals, and sometimes in the dynamics. Did Deluxe roll editors make these changes using additional information supplied by Welte, or
are the changes the choice of Deluxe editors? The editor of classical Deluxe issues was Mettler Davis, described in the 1924 catalogue as a “brilliant pianist of varied achievements…” This presentation does not answer any questions, instead it poses them.

4th GPRM Conference in Stanford (Kumaran Arul)

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