MICHAEL ZADORA (NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, USA, JUNE 14, 1882 – NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, USA, JUNE 30, 1946)

The American pianist and composer, Michael (actually: Michal) Zadora [AKA: Michael von Zadora], was born in New York of Polish parents. He first learnt to play the piano from his father and then at the age of 17 he enrolled at the Paris Conservatoire (1899). From there he travelled to Vienna for lessons with Theodor Leschetizky before continuing his studies with Ferruccio Busoni in Berlin. One of F. Busoni’s finest pupils, Zadora captured the intellect and angst of his mentor. Too little is known of Michael Zadora’s life. He taught a master-class at the Lemberg Conservatory (1911-1912), and also taught at institutions including the Hochschule für Musik and the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory in Berlin. But as World War I approached Zadora returned to America and took a post at the Institute of Musical Art in New York (1913-1914), later to become the Juilliard School of Music. By 1923 Michael Zadora was back in Berlin, where at the Beethovensaal he was the first pianist to give an all-Busoni recital. With Egon Petri he prepared the piano part of the vocal score of F. Busoni’s opera Doktor Faust and gave two-piano recitals. Zadora also set up a Busoni Society. In 1924, as F. Busoni lay on his death-bed, Zadora played a Felix Mendelssohn’s Lied ohne Worte for him. It would appear that Michael Zadora was not well suited to public performance. In 1938 he played at London’s Wigmore Hall and received a poor review. He was described as ‘…a follower of Busoni (who) travestied his master’s style’ by playing Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B minor too fast, without clear articulation or observance of the composer’s markings of piano or pianissimo’. A second recital given two weeks later was not reviewed. Michael Zadora composed a few original works (piano pieces, songs, etc.) in his name and under the pseudonym of Pietro Amadis. On February 5, 1938 New York’s Broadway saw the opening, and closing, of a musical play written by August Strindberg with music by Zadora. He transcribed for piano several organ and violin works by Dietrich Buxtehude and J.S. Bach, in F. Busoni’s way; he also transcribed five songs by Robert Schumann, as well as works by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Delibes, Offenbach, Jensen, Henselt and Schubert. Michael Zadora recorded fairly extensively during the 1920’s and later. He recorded for Polydor in Germany between 1924 and 1927. A few discs were made for the German Grammophon Company in the 1930’s as well as some discs for Ultraphon, Odéon and Vox. In 1940 he made some discs for the Friends of Recorded Music Society in America. These are important as they contain Zadora playing F. Busoni’s Sonatinas Nos 3 and 5. He recorded waltzes, études, préludes and nocturnes by Frédéric Chopin; some of Franz Liszt’s Consolations; and many encore pieces by Lamare, Stockhoff, Joachim Raff, Sgambati, Scarlatti, Field, Johannes Brahms, L.v. Beethoven, Hummel, Anton Rubinstein and himself. He also recorded some J.S. Bach, Prokofiev’s Prelude in C major Op. 12 and Debussy’s Prélude and Toccata from Pour le Piano. Most of his discs are impressive, yet he has a tendency to rush in fast music, missing many details. This is particularly noticeable in the ‘F. Busoni’s Sonatina No. 6 Super Carmen (Zadora’s most well-known recording) and Debussy Toccata recordings. He had a wonderful tone which can be heard in his recording of his own arrangement of Henselt’s Larghetto and La Passion by Lamare. His most impressive disc is of an arrangement he made of a work by Jensen entitled Whispering of a Gentle Breeze. Zadora’s playing emphasised speed and his records offer thrilling experiences when tempi are fast. His aesthetic represents an uncertain departure from F. Busoni’s neo-classicism and Futurism towards unknown terrain. There is always the sense of an evolution in progress, as the works’ structures are always clear and decisive, yet their message being redefined. His playing of F. Busoni’s Sonatina super Carmen is a great example of F. Busoni’s own style. If any of his writings or words will ever emerge, one may better understand him some day.

TRACKLIST

Waltz in A-Flat Major, Op. 69 No. 1 ‘L’adieu’ (Chopin) Vox 06203, 1863A

Waltz in B Minor, Op. 69 No. 2 (Chopin) Vox 06203, 1862A

Waltz in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 64 No. 2 (Chopin) Polydor 19025, 381av

Nocturne in B Major, Op. 32 No. 1 (Chopin) Polydor 19025, 386av

Étude in F Minor, Op. 25 No. 2 ‘Bees’ (Chopin) Polydor 19078, 383av

Étude in G-Flat Major, Op. 25 No. 9 ‘Butterfly’s Wings’ (Chopin) Polydor 19078, 383av

Étude in A-Flat Major, Op. 25 No. 1 ‘Harp Study’ (Chopin) Polydor 19078, 387av

Waltz in D-Flat Major, Op. 64 No. 1 ‘Minute’ (Chopin) Polydor 19078, 387av

Consolations, S. 172 ‘6 Pensées poétiques’- No. 1, Andante con moto (Liszt) Polydor 19112, 416av

Consolations, S. 172 ‘6 Pensées poétiques’- No. 2, Un poco più mosso (Liszt) Polydor 19112, 416av

Consolations, S. 172 ‘6 Pensées poétiques’- No. 3 in D-Flat Major. Lento placido (Liszt) Polydor 14686, 496at

Consolations, S. 172 ‘6 Pensées poétiques’- No. 5, Andantino (Liszt) Polydor 14686, 497at

2 Pieces, Op. 157- No. 2, La fileuse (Raff) Polydor 19112, 417av

Prelude & Fugue, Op. 6- Prelude (Sgambati) Polydor 19113, 418av

Pastorale in E Minor – Capriccio in E Major (After D. Scarlatti) (Scarlatti-Tausig) Polydor 19113, 420av

Se tu m’ami (Arr. M. von Zadora for Piano) (Pergolesi-Zadora) Polydor 14493, 469at

6 Ecossaise in E-Flat Major, BV B 47 (After Beethoven’s WoO 83) (Beethoven-Busoni) Polydor 14493, 472at

Préludes, Op. 28- No. 6 in B Minor (Chopin) Polydor 14607, 470at

24 Préludes, Op. 28- No. 7 in A Major (Chopin) Polydor 14607, 470at

24 Préludes, Op. 28- No. 13 in F-Sharp Major (Chopin) Polydor 14607, 417at

24 Préludes, Op. 28- No. 23 in F Major (Chopin) Polydor 14607, 417at

Mazurka in A Minor, Op. 67 No. 4 (Chopin) Polydor 14687, 500at

Soirées à Saint-Pétersbourg, Op. 44- No. 1, Romance in E-Flat Major (Rubinstein) Polydor 14687, 498at

3 Intermezzos, Op. 117- No. 2 in B-Flat Minor (Brahms) Polydor 14688, 473at

Nocturne No. 5 in B-Flat Major, H. 37A (Field) Polydor 14688, 499at

The Prima Ballerina (Amadis) Polydor 15991, 352av

Vienna Waltz (Amadis) Polydor 15991, 379av

Waltz in D-Flat Major, Op. 64 No. 1 ‘Minute’ (Chopin) Polydor 22120, 1854BK1

Waltz in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 64 No. 2 (Chopin) Polydor 22120, 1853BK1

10 Pieces, Op. 12- No. 7, Prelude (Prokofiev) Polydor 23022, 1778BH1

La passion (Lamare) Polydor 23022, 1780BH1

Sylvia (Arr. M. von Zadora for Piano) (Delibes-Zadora) Polydor 23023, 1777BH1

7 Songs from Spanischen Liederbuch, Op. 21- No. 4, Murmuring Zephyrs (Jensen-Zadora) Polydor 23023, 1779½BH1

Sarabande con partite in C Major, BWV 990- No. 1 (Bach) Polydor 27046, 1545BM1, 1546BM1

Pour le piano, L. 95- I. Prélude (Debussy) Polydor 27073, 1543BM1

Pour le piano, L. 95- III. Toccata (Debussy) Polydor 27073, 1544BM1

Piano Sonatina No. 6, BV 284 ‘Kammer-Fantasie über Carmen’ (Buzoni) Polydor 27171, 932bi1, 933½Bi1

Les contes d’Hoffmann- Barcarolle (Offenbach-Zadora) Ultraphon A974, 16644

Meine Puppe tanzt (Amadis) Ultraphon A974, 16645

Piano Concerto in F Minor, Op. 16- II. Larghetto (Henselt-Zadora) Ultraphon E996, 16642Z

Rondo in E-Flat Major, Op. 11 ‘Rondo favori’ (Hummel) Ultraphon E996, 16643Z

Coppélia-Valse lente (Delibes-Zadora) Electrola EG 1656, BLR5528-7

Sylvia (Delibes-Zadora) Electrola EG 1656, BLR 5527-7

Piano Sonatina No. 3, BV 368 ‘Ad usum infantis’ (Busoni) Friends of Recorded Music FRM 23, GM385-B, GM386-A

Piano Sonatina No. 4, BV 274 ‘Sonatina in diem nativitatis Christi MCMXVII’ (Busoni) Friends of Recorded Music FRM 24, GM387-A, GM388

Michael Zadora

MICHAEL ZADORA DUO-ART PIANO ROLLS CDR

MICHAEL ZADORA THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS 2 CDR

MICHAEL ZADORA WELTE-MIGNON PIANO ROLLS CDR