Music Trade Review

12
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
GODOWSKY AND KNABE AMPICO IN LOS ANGELES CONCERT
Recital Held Under Auspices of Fitzgerald Music Co., and at Which Noted Pianist Appears in
Person in Comparison With His Ampico Records Proves a Sensation
Los .\ N GELE S, C AL., June 13. One of the most
important comparison recitals of the season,
in w hich Godowsky was th e fea tured a rtist
in conn ection with the Knabe Ampico re­
proLJ~~iano, was
held in the Trin ity
Auditorium on June 5, under the auspices of
the Fitzge ra ld Music Co., the aggressive Knabe
Amp ico repre sen tati ves in this city. The suc­
cess of the ·event will be r eadi ly appreciated
from the fact that although the recital was
advertis ed for less th an a week the hall, seat­
ing over 2,000., was crowded to capacity and
over 10,000 people who applied fo r ti cke ts were
compelled to .go away disappointed. The pre­
liminary announcement of the recital app eared
in Los A ngeles papers on June 1, an d requests
fo r ti ckets began to pou r in immediately.
Those who attended the r ec ital declare that
it is doubtful if a more interesting concert was
eve r given in Los Angeles, and the en thusia s m
of the audience both in the artistic and scien­
tific features of the affa ir even exceed ed the
ant icipatory interest s hown in the cOllcert by
the p'U blicat large. The fact that such a noted
pianist as Leopold Godowsky was to app ear in
itself proved a matter of exce ptional interest
to m~sic lovers of Los Angeles and vicinity, and
that h e· had .sufficient faith in the Knabe Ampico
reproducing piano to have a public comparison
made'. between his own playing and the repro·
duct ion of his own records by the A mpico
served to develop general interest to a tre­
m endous degree.
The program provided for the recital was
d is tinctly elaborate in charac.ter and in the na­
ture of a souveni·r, having been pr epa red with
great care, · with an al ytica l notes of the various
selec tion s which were to be pla yed . It is sig­
nificant that in a hall holding over 2,000 people
less than a hundred of the programs wer e col­
le cted aft e r th e concert, n early every member
o f the aud ien ce taking the program home.
The first number was Beethoven's Sonata
App ass ibn a ta in F Minor, played by Godowsky
in a manner tha t immediate ly aroused e nthu­
sias m. Nex t came Cho pin' s Ballade in A Flat,
which af ter being played by the pianist him­
self was repeated on the Ampico from a record
of Godowsky's own playing with a faithfulne ss
tha t proved a we-i nspiring to a grea t majori ty
o( th e audience. A fter playing Rachmaninoff's
Polka de W. R, dedicated to Godowsky by his
fellow artist, followed by ' Debu ssy's Rellets
dans l'Eau ~ th e pianist played E tude de Con­
cert by Li szt, whic h also wa s repeated on the
Ampico from a record of Mr. Godowsky's play­
ing, and served to give further proof of the po s­
sibilities and accomplishments of that instru­
ment.
After a Ch opi n Nocturne in F Sharp came the
final number, a Scherzo in C Sharp Minor, . by
the sa me composer, this number again being
repeated on the Amp ico, a nd serv ing to still
further impr ess th e audience.
Th e local press wa s practically as a unit in
giving to the recital the con sid e ration it de­
s e rved as a musical event of unusual interest
and importance, and nearly every L os .\n ge les
Leopold Godowsky
21, 1919
through the music of the Knabe A,mpico's repro­
.duction. It was marvelous and should be in
every home. The one thing it failed to do was
to autograph my progra.\11, which Godowsky did."
.\ lfred Hertz, conductor of the San Francisco
Symphon y Orchestra, said : "Delighted with
performance; enjoyed rec ital enormously," and
J ca n De Chau venet, of Pa ris, memb e r of the
International Congress of Music, summed up
his impressions by sa yi ng: "The reproduction
is indeed wonderful ; m y te acher, De Pachmann,
wou ld say 'Col ossa l'."
'fhe newspapers were u nanimous in th eir
praise of the musical and s cie ntific achievement
attained by thi s concert. The charact eris ti c
n otice is the fo llowing extract from the critic al"
notice which appeared in the Examiner:
"The Beethoven Sonata was followed by the
Chopin Ballade in A Flat. En th us iasm broke
a ll boun ds at the conclusion of this numb er
and when the arti s t returned and bowed his
ap preciatio n of the plaudits th e great pian o on
th e p latform , a s t hou gh supercharged w ith the
vitality and magnetism of the solo ist, s uddenly
began, apparently of its own volition, to r e pro­
dL:ce note for n ote th e number exact ly as the
pia nist ha d given it.
"T hu s cleve rly the A.mpico repr oducing pian o
was introdu ced to the great audi en ce and its
faithful discharge of so br illiant a r esp on sib ility
is som ethin g for artists and music pa trons alike
to consider. Shad in gs, evanescent rhythms and
dynamics were p rese nt ed exactly as th e artist
himself had g iven them but a moment before.
Th e hou se sat spellb ound as the marvels of this
gr ea t in ve nti on were revealed."
GERMAN GOODS STORED NEAR ITALY
paper carried extencled articles on the affair.
Many notable persons attended the concert, in­
cluding artists and te ac hers of far more than
loc a l reputation, and the Fitzgerald Mu s ic Co .
has been in receipt of numerous expressions of
congratulation from the se nota bles, some of
w hom came full of the spirit of ske pticism and
w ent away enthusiastic converts.
After the concert YV. F. Skeele, dean of the
College of Music of the University of California,
said: "I think it is a very wonderful demon­
stration." Thilo Becker, famous pianist and
teacher, declared, "I am converted and aston­
ished by the almost o ccult reproducing pow er of
the Ampico and am particularly impressed by
the great edu cat ional va lue at tachi ng to this
invention." L. E. Behymer, president of the
Gamut Club and Musical Man agers ' Association
of the United States and Canada, sa id: "Mos t
satisfying and remarkable. I know Mr. Godow­
sk y personally and when I closed my eyes I
felt his presence ' and personality re-cr ea ted
WICKHAM
JUNE
versus
A great number of pianos and organs are
now stol'ed in warehouses on the frontier be­
tween Italy and Switzerland by German mer­
chants, according to an official w ho has ju s t
returned to Washington. It is believed that
Germany will make a decided atte mpt to resume
he r form er trade w ith Italy and other countries
in the near future and regain, as far as pos sibl e,
her lost pre stige.
ST. LOUIS STORE ENLARGES AGAIN
Barthel & Du esenberg, ];}roprietors of the
Con co rdi a Mu sic House, St. Louis , Mo., have
agai n made an addition to their store. This
is the se cond enlargement in two yea rs and
shows th e gro wing trade of this co ncern.
Player-pianos are featured in the new quarters
and the repair shop has also b een extens·ively
improved to tak e care of the dem and s macle
upon this department.
x
It is well known that the symbol of an unknown
quantity is X
It is equally well known that the symbol of per­
fection in piano plates is WICKHAM
The case is before you for your decision
Wickham United Industries
Wickham Plano Plate Co.
The Wickham Co. 01 New Jersey
SPRINGFIELD, OHIO
MATAWAN, NEW JERSEY