Welte-Mignon player pianos were built into famous makes like Steinway, Bechstein, and Blüthner, and also came as a 'Vorsetzer' (push-up) version that played on any piano's keyboard with felt-covered wooden fingers.
Performer Biography
Elly Ney's early repertoire, as reflected in her 1906 Welte recordings, included personal favorites like Brahms and Chopin, as well as salon pieces by composers such as Anton Rubinstein, Hugo Kaun, and Bernhard Köhler.
Instruments
Welte piano rolls, unlike pianola rolls, captured a pianist's 'live' performance, including dynamic nuances and pedal activations, through perforated paper strips.
Instruments
The Welte-Mignon is a player piano system invented in 1904 by the German firm M. Welte & Söhne, capable of recording and reproducing all subtleties of a pianist's performance.
Performer Biography
Elly Ney, the pianist featured on this album, was a child prodigy who became a conservatory student at age ten and succeeded her teacher Isidor Seiss at the Cologne Conservatory by age 22.
Recording & Production
This album is not a historical recording; it features original interpretations played on a modern Steinway piano using Welte-Mignon technology, without the sound quality loss typical of historical recordings.
Interpretation
Elly Ney's 1906 Welte recordings showcase a performance style common around 1900, allowing for independent hand tempos, abrupt rubato, irregular pulsating accompaniment, and varied repetitions.
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