Robbie Rhodes continues to amaze!  What a Renaissance Man!  Who after
all these mistaken years, sets us straight on the origin of the "Annees
de Pelerinage" and gives the source for the pieces in MMD 030905.  Not
questioning his reference, which I consulted, but I have to state that we
"program hosts" for radio stations have been telling our audiences that
[Liszt's "Years of Pilgrimage"] was as a result of his travels through
Italy and Switzerland, with Marie d'Agoult (the first of his ladies!).

Now we know that it was as the result of having been fascinated by
a book in circulation when the pieces were written (first half of the
19th century) about a fictitious traveler named Oberman.  I checked
not only the 3-volume (definitive, in my view) account of Liszt's life
and times by the English author, Alan Walker, but also the complete (on
Hyperion) set of in all 96 CD's performed by Leslie Howard, covering
every note that can be located by Liszt and no mention is made of this
source.  Interesting.

As for the current problem, it needs to be determined if the quoted
number of Gottfried Galston is accurate.  After World War I, Hupfeld,
to deal with the by then well-established competition of not only
Welte, but also Duo-Art and Ampico, converted many of their Phonola,
Solodant, Animatic or (originally, in many cases) DEA masters to the
so-called "Tri-Phonola" format, but it was a selective process.

Also, we discover that as was the practice of the time (and indeed
today) when a given roll performance didn't sell, it was often
withdrawn.  The only catalog to which I have had access is the one
published in 1925, which doesn't list roll No. 53773.  In fact, of
the six Liszt performances in that numerical series, only one (53776)
is listed as Tri-Phonola.

Also, more confusion has arisen about this series as a result of
Larry Sitsky's, in his comprehensive consideration of the total roll
scene, having stated that all the Hupfeld issues were "Tri-Phonolaed."
As I say, many were not.  Larry was, of course, simply responding to
whatever information was available when he completed his 2-volume
listings (Greenwood Press, CT, $190 for either one only or both).
It was from this consideration that I listed the numbers to be found
in the Tri-Phonola section of the catalogs in PDF on the RPRF web site.

In conclusion, I'd conjecture that only the original Phonola, or
version of same as listed above, would be available, and only in
Europe.  We've had little success in finding all of the Tri-Phonolas
(12 of the 16 he recorded) of Ferruccio Busoni, and have been searching
for some time now.  It may be a lost cause, Tony.

Albert M. Petrak, Founder
The Reproducing Piano Roll Foundation

 [ At http://home.mchsi.com/~ksenia-nosikova/Reviews61700_eng.html is a
 [ note in tiny letters saying that the text was translated from Russian,
 [ provided, I suppose, by pianist Nosikova.  Concert audiences enjoy
 [ romantic gossip, especially if it's about a larger-than-life character
 [ like Franz Liszt (1811-1886); the Russian explanation for his travels
 [ seems plausible.  "Oberman", Senancourt's popular romantic novel about
 [ the mountains, was written in 1798 or 1804.  -- Robbie