A Master Pianist Speaks

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 52, 10 July 1931, Page 9

A Master Pianist Speaks

LISTENERS who were fortunate ~ enough to have their sets tuned in to 2YA when that great Russian composer and pianist, Mark Hambourg, spoke on Friday, were given a_ real treat. Not only was it.thrilling to hear the voice of such a great man, but the actual subject matter of his tall was vastly entertaining. He had a fluent command of English, and only . very rarely did he become a little tied up in phraseology... Even on these occasions the trend of his remarks was made perfectly apparent. Choosing for the theme of his tale "The Mechanisation , of Music,’ the speaker showed how the great artists of music will always be necessary for the musical entertainment and education of mankind, for without their initial work the machine is still powerless. Indeed, I gathered from his remarks that the modern trend of gramophone and wireless entertainment is, generally speaking, welcomed because of its aid in cultivating and moulding a taste for better quality ‘music. The speaker gave some illuminating information on the making of piano rolls and how errors may be chopped out and corrected-no wonder some of these sound too good to be true! Indeed, we were assured that some great players deliberately made faults and asked for them to be left in so as to give a more natural tone to the piece! But fancy playing a roll or a revord and sending it home in lieu of the more usual letter, as was the practice of this master!