# HELP! I need rolled chords & portamento!



## GrosseFugue (Nov 30, 2011)

So, Alex Ross (in Listen to This) mentions a time at the turn of the last century when:

*"pianists rolled chords instead of playing them at one stroke. String players slid expressively from one note to the next -- portamento, the style was called -- in imitation of the slide of the voice."*

Can anyone recommend any particular pianists and violinists (and their respective recordings) where these effects are FULL-BLOWN and IN-YOUR-FACE?

I don't have Golden Ears and so want some flagrant examples. 

PS -- The oldest violin recordings I have are by Jascha Heifetz and I couldn't detect any "sliding" or maybe that's just me? As for piano -- I downloaded a sample of Schnabel doing Beethoven way back, but I don't remember hearing "rolled chords."


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

GrosseFugue said:


> So, Alex Ross (in Listen to This) mentions a time at the turn of the last century when:
> 
> *"pianists rolled chords instead of playing them at one stroke. String players slid expressively from one note to the next -- portamento, the style was called -- in imitation of the slide of the voice."*
> 
> ...


You most certainly wont hear such things from Heifetz or Schnabel, I cannot imagine less likely choices. Listen to recordings from the 1920's of the great violinist Fritz Kreisler and go to piano roll recordings from pre-gramophone days.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

In Wilhelm Backhaus' recording of Beethoven's "Tempest" sonata, he rolls a lot of chords in the second movement, something I have not heard in other recordings of the work.


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## LordBlackudder (Nov 13, 2010)

I always called them broken chords.


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

A broken chord is a little different; you actually give each chord note a rhythmic value. Rolling is basically an ornament.


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## GrosseFugue (Nov 30, 2011)

emiellucifuge said:


> A broken chord is a little different; you actually give each chord note a rhythmic value. Rolling is basically an ornament.


Yeah, I was wondering about those vids; wasn't sure what I should be listening for.

Would "rolling" sort of bleed the notes together?

I'll have to check out Backhaus.

So I take it no CM soloist alive today rolls chords or slides notes? Would be great to hear a modern recording.


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

When you roll a chord on a piano you typically press the lowest key first going up to the highest in quick succession, holding each for the duration of the entire chord


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