Uploaded October 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
Fred Elizalde plays his composition "Pianotrope". The title is a punning play on Brunswick's "Panatrope" series of gramophones. Announced in 1925, these were available in acoustic (with electric motor) and all-electric versions, for playing the new electrically recorded records.
FRED ELIZALDE
Piano solo
Recorded in London, September 1927
Pianotrope……. Brunswick 132
Apparently, the word "Panatrope" means "all octaves in music", so presumably "Pianotrope" means "all octaves on the piano"! Elizalde does his best to cover the keyboard in this respect. Unfortunately, British Brunswick's electrical recording quality was pretty dire…mind you, its American big brother faired no better.
The Melody Maker reviewed the piano solo in its December 1927 edition, stating: "As a composition, "Pianotrope" shows the work of a genius. The themes are hauntingly tuneful and the treatment given them - in some parts dead straight, in others with the hottest of modern dance rhythms - is based on a harmony which, while being very modern, is still easily understandable."
In a typically trite publicity stunt, British Brunswick had Elizalde, at the piano, battle against its latest all-electric Panatrope, both playing "Pianotrope" to determine whether man or machine was the most efficient and effective means for producing the most satisfying results. The ensuing cacophony ensured that the results were declared a dead heat, and everyone went home none the wiser.
Fred Elizalde plays his composition "Pianotrope". The title is a punning play on Brunswick's "Panatrope" series of gramophones. Announced in 1925, these were available in acoustic (with electric motor) and all-electric versions, for playing the new electrically recorded records.
FRED ELIZALDE
Piano solo
Recorded in London, September 1927
Pianotrope……. Brunswick 132
Apparently, the word "Panatrope" means "all octaves in music", so presumably "Pianotrope" means "all octaves on the piano"! Elizalde does his best to cover the keyboard in this respect. Unfortunately, British Brunswick's electrical recording quality was pretty dire…mind you, its American big brother faired no better.
The Melody Maker reviewed the piano solo in its December 1927 edition, stating: "As a composition, "Pianotrope" shows the work of a genius. The themes are hauntingly tuneful and the treatment given them - in some parts dead straight, in others with the hottest of modern dance rhythms - is based on a harmony which, while being very modern, is still easily understandable."
In a typically trite publicity stunt, British Brunswick had Elizalde, at the piano, battle against its latest all-electric Panatrope, both playing "Pianotrope" to determine whether man or machine was the most efficient and effective means for producing the most satisfying results. The ensuing cacophony ensured that the results were declared a dead heat, and everyone went home none the wiser.
