In case some of you may not have heard the announcement or read
the obit in the New York Times, the doyen of New York (and piano
performance) critics, Harold Schonberg, has left us at age 87.

I had the rare privilege of correspondence with "himself" at the
time of the release of the Telarc recordings (80489 and 80491) of
the complete Ampico roll recordings of Sergei Rachmaninoff.  He was
mightily impressed, stating that to his recollection from many concerts
attended during Rachmaninoff's lifetime, the roll recordings sounded
authentic and were to be cherished.

He also was responsible for a detail I've used (with his permission)
many times in relating the practices of the companies as regards
editing of the rolls.  His story goes thus:

Arthur Rubinstein told me, when I asked him about his roll recordings
that:

"One day when I had finished performing and they played back for me
what I had set down, they solicited my approval of the rolls, to which
I replied negatively, 'Well, why not, Maestro?'

"'Too many mistakes,' said Rubinstein.  'Oh, we can easily fix that,'
they replied, and called in one of their staff from the factory.

"In came a little man in a white apron.  He picked up the roll, unwound
it a bit and clucked.  He then asked me to come back tomorrow to hear
it again, which I did.'

"'And what was your reaction', asked Harold.  'They made me sound like
Josef Hofmann,' said R.

"And did you allow them to release it?'  'Of course," said Rubinstein,
grinning broadly, 'of course.'"

Thus are the wonders of the reproducing piano roll!

Harold was one of the most admired of his profession, and as you will
note, the only one to receive a Pulitzer for his craft.  He was a true
gentleman, not easy to know in person, as I discovered when attending a
concert in New York in the 60s.  He guarded his response to the playing
(Gary Graffman with, among other things the Op. 101 Beethoven sonata).

"Well, what did you think of it, Mr. S.?"  No response except a slight
indication that he was offended that you would ask him to reveal his
thoughts....undoubtedly urging a reading of his column the next day
instead.  But he was devoted to the piano, unlike any other individual
instrument or the ensemble, but of course covered them most capably
when involved.

He will be missed, even though he retired quite a few years ago.  He
has many books about piano performance, including "The Great Ones" and
"The Great Pianists."  Not sure if they are both in print, but very
worth investigating.

Albert M. Petrak, Founder
The Reproducing Piano Roll Foundation