The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-02-03
Wonderful Piano Hands.

| III I tCfiO
| How little the shapeliness of the hand
| has to do with the effect which piano
player can obtain from the instrument Is
well illustrated by the case OF Mr.. Alex
ander Siloti the Russian pianist and
pupil of List and Rubenstein Mr.. ST.
! lofts European reputation is very great,
and he has just begun an American tour
| with a successful debut Although Mr.
| Siioti's playing is distinguished by ex-
| IRENE delicacy where such IS required,
/ his hands are literally enormous. They
are even larger than LISTS, and the lat
ter were noted for their size.
Il am quite willing TO acknowledge that
my hands are not beautiful to behold"
! said Mr.. Slot to a New York Herald re-
porter as he held them up to view. They
were certaily very large, with the knuck-
| les very prominent. But their chief char
| acteristic was the great length of the nm
gers. The little finger especially was re-
markedly long
''Of course" said Mr. Silotti, "practicing
! has enlarged my hands-it does so in al
cas@s-but my hands were naturally very
large
You must have a very long reach" I
suggested.
Look" he said Then without an eff
! fort he reached with his thumb and little
| finger from c to T sharp in the octave
! aboVe-an interval of eleven and q half
notes. THAT is half a tone more than
/ List could take at stretch. can take
/ c and G, but cannot strike them freely.
List and l often compared reaches
while l was studying with him. List
| could take the reach from c TO f in the
| octave above. Ordinarily a pianist can
not stretch further than from c to E. ten
notes. 1 can, however, play the scales in
| tenths." Suiting the action TO the words
! Mr.. Siloti took ten notes at reach, and
ran up and down the scales as easily as
most pianists of his rank would play them
in octaves-that is, with a reach of only
| eight notes.
| Then, as if to Guido this feat, the plan
list played a scale in octaves making the
reach of eight notes with his thumb and
fcrehnger, and afterward, as If by way
| of variation, with his first finger and lit
tic finger IN this way he played for me
the opening bars of the fugue in the diff
cult Schubert-LisZt ''Wanderer" fantasy,
| a really extraordinary feat. Of course.
the usual way of taking scales with the
| thumb and little finger was like child's
play to him.
Mr.. Siloti then performed another diff
cult feat. Taking a reach of ten notes,
c to Il, with his thumb and little finger,
he pressed down the intermediate Z and
c, q reach of six notes, with his second
and fourth. Then he executed smooth
and even trill IL octaves, playing the first
octave Of the trilI with his thumb and
| fourth finger and the second octave with
his second and fifth. The hand itself re-
manned immovable, the trill being played
wholly with the fingers There is a pas
sage in the opening of the second move
ment OF the first Tschaikowsky piano con-
certo to which is usually played with two
hands, but which Mr.. Siloti plays with
one hand
but. after ALL" said Mr.. STloti, when
he had finished showing me what Won
derful things a pianist with eXtraordina-
rily long hands and fingers can do, II
haven't naturally good piano hand. My
fingers are really too long. / have to bend
them TO keep from striking the back
board, and in delicate passage work they
are in my way. would rather have short
er fingers. and would be quite willing to
sacrifice my unusually long reach for
| Them
"How would you describe a good piano
hand?"
II can best do that by describing An
ton T. ubenstein's hand. He had the best
piano hand of any of the great players.
Yet TIE laymen would hardly have i'm
agined from this wonderful artists hand
that he was a pianist, let alone a great
one His hand was really more like a
| butchers. 1t was very ieshy and very
| broad The fingers, too were very broad
and stumpy, with balls at the ends. You
thought it hardly possible that there was
room between the black keys for such
broad fingers. But it was a perfect pi
ano hand. The fingers were not long
enough to get in each others way; they
were capable of Infinitely tender and ca
ressing effects, yet their breadth and the
compact. heavy hand behind them made
Them capable of great power when such
| was required Yes, Rubensteir1's was a
wonderful piano hand
Whom among living pianists do YOU
consider to have the best piano hand?"
Undoubtedly Joseffy. His hand is
feshy and chubby-naturally a beautiful
piano hand. The fingers are just the
right length and the whole hand firm
enough for power as we'll as deIicacy."
And Paderewski-has he good piano
hand?"
L should not say that his hand is nat
uralIy adapted to the piano. While as a
whole il is of ordinary size, the fingers
are long and tapering. 1t is very delicate
ly aIched and perhaps slightly feminine
in type-very different from Rubenstein's
which is the standard piano hand-yet
Paderewski has a strong grasp and can
give you a solid grip His wonderful play
ing shows how practice and temperament
can overcome the natural disadvantages
OF an unpianistic hand"
LAS you studuied with List. you must
have found ample oportunity to observe
his hands"
Yes. and l make the same deductions
from them as I do from Paderewskf's.
They were naturally unpianistic, yet
List will sc down into history as the
greatest pianist of the century. His hands
were only trIfle smaller than mine. They
were thinner. bonner and more sinewy.
He also had Ions fingers"