Paul Pabst (1854-1897): Tchaikowsky/Pabst - Paraphrase on “Sleeping Beauty“

Paul Pabst was a child prodigy, first performing in public at age 11. He studied with Rubinstein and Liszt, and by 1878 he was appointed to the staff at the Moscow Conservatory, where he taught many famous pianists, including Rachmaninoff. He was a renowned pianist himself and his transrciptions were particularly praised. This is a recording of him performing his most famous paraphrase, on melodies from Tchaikowsky’s Sleeping Beauty. The recording was made by Julius Block onto an Edison phonograph cylinder in 1895. It sounds like Pabst was told to wind up his performance early due to space running out on the cylinder!