Walter Rummel
80:23 | ||
BACH: | ||
| 1. | Prelude and Fugue in B-flat Minor, from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I | 5:54 |
BACH-RUMMEL: | ||
| 2. | Vom Himmel hoch da komm’ ich her (From Heaven High I Come to Thee), from Weihnachtsoratorium, BWV 248 | 2:18 |
| 3. | Ertöt uns durch dein Güte (Mortify Us by Thy Grace), from Cantata, Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe, BWV 22 | 2:42 |
| 4. | Jesus Christus Gottes Sohn (Jesus Christ, Son of God), from Cantata Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4 | 3:13 |
| 5. | Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier (Blessed Jesus, Here We Stand), Chorale Prelude, BWV 731 | 3:35 |
BEETHOVEN: | ||
| 6. | Bagatelle in A, Op. 33, No. 4 | 3:21 |
| 7. | Beethoven: Bagatelle in A Minor, WoO 59, “Für Elise” | 2:50 |
LISZT: | ||
| 8. | Petrarch Sonnet No. 123, No. 6 from Années de Pèlerinage Book II, Italy S.161 | 5:11 |
| 9. | Legend No. 1: St. Francis of Assisi Preaching to the Birds, S.175 | 6:38 |
| 10. | Legend No. 2: St. Francis of Paola Walking on the Waves, S.175 | 7:41 |
| 11. | Liebestraum No. 3, S. 541 | 3:48 |
| 12. | Ave Maria (after Jakob Arcadelt) S.182, No. 2 | 3:45 |
CHOPIN: | ||
| 13. | Waltz in D-flat, Op. 64, No. 1 | 2:08 |
| 14. | Waltz in C-sharp Minor, Op. 64, No. 2 | 2:57 |
| 15. | Waltz in A-flat, Op. 69, No. 1 | 3:12 |
| 16. | Waltz in G-flat, Op. 70, No. 1 | 2:23 |
| 17. | Mazurka in A Minor, Op. 17, No. 4 | 3:44 |
| 18. | Mazurka in A Minor, Op. 68, No. 2 | 2:30 |
| 19. | Etude in C-sharp Minor, Op. 25, No. 7 | 4:32 |
MENDELSSOHN: | ||
| 20. | Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 14 | 3:51 |
WAGNER-LISZT: | ||
| 21. | Isoldens Liebestod, S.447 | 4:08 |
Producers: Ward Marston and Scott Kessler
Audio Conservation: Ward Marston and J. Richard Harris
Booklet Notes: Charles Timbrell
Booklet Coordinator: Mark S. Stehle
Booklet Design: Takeshi Takahashi
Marston would like to thank Michael Gray and Christian Zwarg for assistance in dating the Deutsche Grammophon recordings, and Will Crutchfield for providing editorial assistance.
Walter Rummel was born in Charlottenburg (Berlin) on 19 July 1887. His father was the noted pianist Franz Rummel and his mother was the daughter of the American telegraph inventor Samuel F. B. Morse. He studied first with his father and later for five years with Leopold Godowsky. In 1907 he acquired American citizenship through his mother, and two years later he moved to Paris, where he married the French pianist Thérèse Chaigneau. His Paris and London debuts in 1913 were a great success, a London critic writing of his “strong and imaginative playing” and his “complete understanding of Book II of Debussy’s Préludes.” He played Debussy’s works often, including the premieres of nine of the preludes and etudes, as well as the two-piano suite En blanc et noir, performed with his wife.
In 1918 he left his wife and began a three-year liaison with the dancer Isadora Duncan, with whom he concertized widely in Europe. His active repertoire during the 1920s included Brahms’s Sonata in F Minor, Schumann’s Carnaval, Liszt’s B-minor Sonata, and concertos by Beethoven, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninov. He performed with such noted conductors as Felix Weingartner, Paul Paray, André Cluytens, Eugène Bigot, and Willem Mengelberg.
During the 1930s he moved to Brussels with his third wife, and there he enjoyed the patronage of King Leopold III and Queen Elisabeth. He appeared throughout Europe and South America, including performances during World War II in Germany and the occupied countries. He became a staunch advocate of German policies, and although he never joined the Nazi party, he accepted German citizenship in the final days of the war. His wartime concerts included a series of seven single-composer recitals in Paris, Brussels, and Antwerp.
Rummel was noted especially for his playing of Bach, Beethoven, and Liszt. The Liszt scholar Alan Walker has written that “his recordings of Liszt disclose a Liszt interpreter of the front rank.” He is also remembered as the composer of more than thirty songs and many adaptations and transcriptions of Bach’s works. Returning to France after the war, he was unable to sustain his former career. He died of cancer in Bordeaux on 2 May 1953.
©2025 Charles Timbrell