Rare classical music

Vladimir von Pachmann or Pachman (27 July 1848 – 6 January 1933) was a pianist of Russian-German ethnicity, especially noted for performing the works of Chopin, and also for his eccentric on-stage style.
Pachmann was born in Odessa, Ukraine. He studied music at the Vienna Conservatory, studying piano with Joseph Dachs (a pupil of Karl Tausig) and theory with Anton Bruckner. He made his concert debut in Odessa in 1869, but until 1882 he only appeared in public infrequently, spending his time in further study. He then toured throughout Europe and the United States, and was acclaimed as a top player of his era.
Pachmann was one of the earliest to make recordings of his work, beginning in 1906 with recordings for the Welte-Mignon reproducing piano and in 1907 for the gramophone.
He was also famous for gestures, muttering, and addressing the audience during his performance; the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica judiciously characterized it as the "playfulness of his platform manner", while critic James Huneker called him the "Chopinzee", and George Bernard Shaw reported that he "gave his well-known pantomimic performance, with accompaniments by Chopin."

Несмотря на некоторый ореол "скандальности", который окружает имя этого выдающегося исполнителя,  качество его искусства и прежде всего "пианизма" высочайшее.   Наверное основным его минусом было недостаточно драматичное время, когда корни, питающие  Романтизм уже отчасти "выработались", а новая эстетика еще не народилась

Все больше в сети появляется материалов, посвященных этому выдающемуся музыканту. Вскрываются и развенчиваются многие мифы, в том числе о Пахмане, как мастере, прежде всего, миниатюры. 

Отчасти Гаролду Шонбергу и его книге ''Великие пианисты'' мы обязаны довольно поверхностному и предвзятому "общественно-музыкальному" мнению о нем.

Тем не менее, внимательно прослушав предлагаемые записи, мы сами сможем убедиться в удивительной "текстологической" точности и скрупулезности Пахмана. Тем же, кто знаком с историческими записями многих других пианистов, например Пабста, чудачества Пахмана не представятся слишком уж экстравагантными в музыке.

Хотя, того, любил эпатировать публику. Рассказывают, на одном из концертов выложил перед собой носок, якобы связанный м-м Санд для Шопена и играл, получая от него вдохновение. В артистической же кричал - ну что вы! конечно же носок мой, я пошутил...

The Famous "Methode"

After he was seventy he developed what he called his "Methode" to which he attributed his success as a pianist. He exploited it as the culmination of his brilliant career in which he toured widely and was acclaimed the greatest living interpreter of Chopin.
The "Methode" was chiefly concerned with the position of the wrist. De Pachmann believed that the wrist should move up and down if necessary but never be turned out of position. In order to prevent certain hand positions he developed a method of fingering which was designed to eliminate all waste motion.
His playing was characterized by exceptional delicacy. Sometimes when he obtained a pianissimo, he would search under the piano as though vainly trying to locate the vanishing sound. He was especially adept in light and lilting passages.
Indeed, pianists for many generations to come will inherit richly through the standard he set for tonal beauty, and for his masterful fashioning of a phrase a memory that long will outlive the records of his clowning mimicries.
He explained his eccentricity as being the result of the "surging" within his soul. Critics took exception to it, but de Pachmann argued that he could not refrain from speaking during a recital for the strain upon him "was terrible."
"And besides" he said, "I receive letters expressing disappointment whenever I depart from the usual." Anything which is not severely ordinary is labeled eccentric.
He liked to shock the orthodox with his own opinions on music. He said "I am the world's greatest pianist" and placed Leopold Godowsky above Beethoven as a composer.

Born In Odessa (его даже называют украинским пианистом!!!)

De Pachmann was born in Odessa. His father was a distinguished amateur of music and had been a friend of Beethoven and Weber. Young Vladimir was sent to the Conservatory of Vienna where he won a gold medal. He gave his first concerts in Odessa, but p. 16 after meeting Tausig he decided to retire and devote himself to arduous practice. He was a worker. He said that he played a piece in private some 13,000 times before he gave it a trial in public.
The passing of de Pachmann in Rome at the age of 84 is mourned by the entire music world. He made a lasting contribution to piano virtuosity, the effect of which is far-reaching. Regarded as a miniaturist he glorified the term by making miniatures so beautiful that they held their own with canvases of any size. To him the piano had to be eloquent — but it was not the eloquence of thunder or ranting tragedy that interested him. He never was guilty of forcing the instrument beyond its natural borders of resonance; that, perhaps, was the secret of his success — that and the intimate relationship he bore to the highest principle in art, beauty.