These recordings are mentioned in the foreword to The Friese-Lepak Timpani Method: A Complete Method for Timpani. Few actual physical analog 78 rpm discs remain extant. They were intended to demonstrate a standard for intonation, rapid tuning changes, and the tonal qualities of the “kettle drums” of the period through tuning exercises and standard orchestral excerpts. The recordings speak for themselves.
Heard today, these recordings are also a useful reminder that “good timpani sound” is historically conditioned. Friese’s standard of tone, pitch, articulation, and tuning reflects the instruments, heads, recording technology, and orchestral expectations of his time. Their value is not that they settle every question about timpani playing, but that they preserve a concrete example of an influential timpani tradition.
Because these recordings were originally made on 78 rpm analog discs, the listener should also allow for the limitations of the medium: restricted frequency range, surface noise, transfer quality, and the acoustic balance of the original recording. Even with those limitations, the recordings remain an important historical document.
Original Album Description
“A true innovation, the first Timpani recordings anywhere were made by Alfred Friese in 1950. This unique set of recordings titled TIMPANI STUDIES, a demonstration of the timpanist’s art for students, is now in over one hundred universities, colleges and conservatories.” (The Friese-Lepak Timpani Method)
Alfred Friese, world-renowned solo timpanist and dean of timpani teachers, presents in this album a practical demonstration of the timpani in its various orchestral uses, consisting of tuning exercises and famous excerpts from standard orchestral works.
Intended as a norm for perfect intonation and true tonal quality, these recordings helped satisfy a long-felt need for a better understanding and evaluation of the instrument by students, teachers, conductors, and composers.
Alfred Friese, 1950. Photo by M. Rosenberg
Listen
Recording courtesy of James Musto III
Originally released on 3 audio discs: analog, 78 rpm; 12 in.
Remastered by Sean P. Jones
Recording Information
| Performers / Contributors: | Alfred Friese, timpani; Edwin McArthur, piano; Philip James, narrator. |
| Publisher: | New York, N.Y.: Artist Recordings, [1950] |
| Edition / Format: | Music: 78 rpm; 12 in. |
| Genre / Form: | Studies and exercises |
| Material Type: | Music |
About Alfred Friese
By Frederick D. Fairchild (PAS)
Alfred P. Friese (1876–1971), a graduate of Leipzig Royal Conservatory, was originally trained as a violinist, and his musical proficiency on this instrument won him the prized Artist Diploma and subsequently a position in the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. It was during this time at Leipzig that he became interested in the timpani and began to study with the orchestra’s timpanist, Hermann Schmidt. His first major timpani engagement was with Hans Winderstein’s Orchestra. In 1902, he was invited by Franz Scheel to come to the United States to become one of the founding members of what would later become the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Mr. Friese then moved on to become timpanist with the Pittsburgh Symphony under Emil Paur. When Gustav Mahler established the New York Philharmonic on a regular salaried basis in 1909, he chose Alfred Friese from among nine competitors for the solo timpani chair. Some of the conductors under whose baton he performed were Fritz Reiner, Arturo Toscanini, Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, Arthur Fiedler, Eugene Ormandy, Igor Stravinsky, Leopold Stokowski, and Sir Thomas Beecham.
In May of 1926, Mr. Friese opened his School for Timpani, the first of its kind. He also served as chairman of the percussion department of the Manhattan School of Music. His method of timpani instruction, The Friese-Lepak Timpani Method, has become a standard text for the instrument.
Alfred Friese is remembered as one of the world’s foremost timpanists and teachers.
