While browsing YouTube to see what was available in mechanical music,
I ran across a video of a beautiful Ronisch grand piano equipped with
the Hupfeld Triphonola reproducing system.  Having only ever read about
this system I just had to hear what it sounded like.  The roll played
on this video was the Chopin Ballade Op. 23, played by Ferruccio Busoni.

As soon as the roll started there was immediate recognition; it sounded
very similar -- in fact, too similar -- to my Ampico roll number 50047,
Ballade Op. 23, Chopin, played by Busoni.  That Ampico roll is a
favorite so it is very familiar to me.  After the Hupfeld roll finished
it was off to the roll shelves to find the Ampico version and sure
enough, on the label it stated that the source material for that roll
was from Hupfeld, it was one of the so-called "Hupfeld transfers".

These Hupfeld transfers have always been a curiosity because they were
rolls originally made for a completely different system that Ampico
editors translated and recoded to their format.  I've always wondered
how the two different rolls compared when played on their respective
systems and, at least in this instance, they were close -- very close,
in my opinion.

For any Ampico owner wishing to compare for themselves here is the
link to the video of the Hupfeld Triphonola:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNXECAwX4MI
 
  T50081 Ballata Op 23 Chopin Played by Ferruccio Busoni

Dig out your Ampico equivalent roll played by Busoni and see what you
think.

If memory serves, the Hupfeld project at Ampico was considered a
failure mainly due to the fact that it was more work to translate the
expression and recode the rolls than to start from scratch.  The only
reason Ampico entered into this agreement with Hupfeld was to be able
to add rolls to their catalog by some of the big-name pianists of the
day that were locked up in contracts with Welte and Aeolian.

After hearing this example on both systems  I wonder if the editors at
Ampico had access to a Hupfeld reproducing piano so they could audition
the source material.  Of course, we will never know the answer to this
and other questions about these rolls but it certainly is interesting
to speculate.

It is my hope that anyone out there with a Hupfeld equipped reproducing
piano might consider posting more videos of other performances that
were also available on Ampico as transfers.  I would certainly like to
hear other examples for comparison.

Michael Swanson

 [ The Ampico rollography by Elaine Obenchain shows these four pieces
 [ performed for Hupfeld by Ferruccio Busoni (Ampico roll numbers shown):
 [
 [   50047M  Ballade Op. 23 No. 1, G minor, Chopin
 [   51364M, 431F (S-A) Dance of the Gnomes No. 2, Liszt
 [   62633H  Nocturne "Soirées musicales de Rossini" No. 10, Liszt
 [   50676N, 681L (S-A) Rigoletto Paraphrase, Verdi-Liszt
 [
 [ -- Editor (Robbie)