Austro-German Revivals: (Re)constructing acoustic recordings

This paper discusses a research case-study on Austro-German performance traditions, which was a part of a larger Leverhulme-funded project (Re)constructing Early Recordings: a guide for historically-informed performance, led by Inja Stanović at the University of Huddersfield. The project focused upon mechanical technologies used to produce early recordings and, more specifically, the ways in which those recordings reveal performance practices of the past. The case study on Austro-German performing traditions led to the release of an album involving collaborative performance-based research involving both Stanović, on piano, alongside violinist Dr. David Milsom. The paper presents findings from the case study, which focused on reconstructions of historic recordings by pianists Ilona Eibenschütz (1871-1967), Natalia Janotha (1856-1932), and Alfred Grünfeld (1852-1924), and violinists Joseph Joachim (1831- 1907), Marie Soldat (1863-1955), and Arnold Rosé (1858-1946). These musicians were all, to some extent, linked to Johannes Brahms (1833-1897); a central figure in the Austro-German canon. Curiously, however, the various recordings that these musicians produced reveal their highly personalised interpretative choices and their distinctive approaches to both technique and musical expression. The aim in reconstructing these historic recordings was to reflect on the wider Austro-German performing traditions, and to explore the various ways in which the first recording musicians of Brahms’ circles produced highly individualistic approaches to their instruments. This paper points out a long-standing gap in our contemporary understanding of mechanical recording sessions, and the extent to which performing musicians adapted their practice when recording with mechanical technologies.