Alongside the other Beethoven works which he played, such as the 5th and 4th piano concerti, (q.v.) D'Albert's performance of the 'Waldstein' Sonata was famous and legendary even in his own time. Although he later recorded for the phonograph a heavily cut version of the Rondo, this gives us no idea of the conceptual span in his interpretation of the whole.
But for the first time in living memory, we can hear his piano rolls of the whole Sonata, made some ten years before the phonograph recording.
The overall impression of D'Albert's playing is that of speed, power and above all dynamism, allied to the lyricism for which he was renowned. He was also somewhat infamous for some strange inaccuracies and errors, such things seem to have been largely ironed out by the roll editors, who (unlike the later Duo Art rolls) deliberately left some in just to make the 're-performance' lifelike.
In this upload I have greatly improved the sound, giving perhaps a more realistic impression of the performance which was originally recorded for the Hupfeld 73 note Phonola. The master roll of this was later used to produce the two Standard 88 note rolls heard here, and a still later adaptation for the 'Triphonola' reproducing piano.