Rosenthal: Carnaval de Vienne (Strauss waltz fantasy)

Notes by pianist Charles Rosen: I learned the Moriz Rosenthal “Carnaval de Vienne“ (after the music of Johann Strauss) many years ago for Mrs. Rosenthal just after her husband’s death. Like Godowsky’s transcriptions, which this precedes by many years, it is a free improvisation on Strauss themes, with the contrapuntal fun of seeing how many waltzes can be played simultaneously by two hands: Rosenthal briefly manages three. It is a work of wit, charm and the utmost bravura: Johann Strauss himself was delighted with it. Today, the style of the great pianists of the first quarter of [the 20th] century and the air of casual elegance cannot be recaptured, and probably we shall never hear it again. Rosenthal, Hoffman and Rahcmaninoff combined technical perfection not only with spontaneity but with the appearance of improvising. (But it was more than appearance: I doubt if Rosenthal ever played his “Carnaval de Vienne“ without improvising something different each time.) Their technical mastery may still be found, but their ease of manner and their sense of high style have been lost forever: they played like gentlemen.