1908年倫敦：年輕人、金屬號角，與一個被錄音科技翻轉的世界
古殿殿主
1898年。一個27歲的美國人，從紐約搭船來到倫敦。
他叫蓋斯伯格(Fred Gaisberg,1873-1951)。他相信一件在當時幾乎沒有人認真看待的事：人類的聲音，可以被永久保存。
那個年代，錄音是什麼？是一個新奇的玩意兒，是街頭雜耍，是讓人驚奇五分鐘然後忘記的把戲。沒有人認為它會成為一個產業，更沒有人想到，它會徹底改變人類保存文化的方式。
一個新科技，如何從零開始改變世界
愛迪生在1877年發明了留聲機，但最初的錄音載體是蠟管——易碎、難複製、無法大量生產。真正讓錄音走向產業化的，是一個關鍵的技術突破：圓盤取代蠟管。
柏林納(Emil Berliner,1851-1929)在1887年申請了圓盤唱片的專利。圓盤可以壓製複本，可以大量生產，可以郵寄，可以販售。這是錄音技術從「科學實驗」變成「商業產品」的轉折點。
但技術突破只是開始。真正的問題是：誰來錄這些圓盤？
蓋斯伯格的答案是：最好的聲音。最偉大的藝術家。只有這樣，人們才會願意花錢買一台留聲機，再花錢買唱片來聽。
1902年，他在米蘭的一間旅館說服了卡羅素（Enrico Caruso,1873-1921）進行錄音。那次錄音改變了一切。卡羅素的聲音透過唱片傳遍世界，留聲機公司(Gramophone Company)的名字從此與「最偉大的藝術家」劃上等號。
但蓋斯伯格的目標不只是聲樂。
他要的，是整個人類音樂文明的聲音。
鋼琴，是當時最難被錄下來的樂器
1907年，蓋斯伯格啟動了一個前所未有的新計劃：錄製
鋼琴獨奏計畫。
在當時，這是一個沒有人做過的大挑戰。
聲學錄音的原理，是讓聲音穿過一根金屬號角，直接振動刻針，在旋轉的蠟盤上刻出溝槽。這個系統能捕捉的頻率範圍極其有限——大約只有100到2500赫茲之間。
鋼琴的問題在於：它的音域橫跨幾乎整個可聽頻譜，低音渾厚，高音晶亮，泛音複雜。號角系統最難處理的，恰恰就是鋼琴。
所以在1907年之前，留聲機公司的唱片錄音目錄以聲樂為主——男高音、女高音、男中音。器樂家偶爾出現，但鋼琴獨奏極少，因為效果太差，沒有人願意買。
但蓋斯伯格看到的不只是當下的技術限制。他看到的是：鋼琴是歐洲音樂廳的核心，是中產階級家庭的象徵，是最廣大聽眾最熟悉的樂器。 如果留聲機公司能夠錄下偉大的鋼琴家，那將會打開一個全新的市場。
問題是：要找誰？
蓋斯伯格選擇了一個24歲的年輕人
1907年之前，蓋斯伯格已經開始布局，他說服了一位老大師走進錄音室——帕赫曼(Vladimir de Pachmann,1848-1933)，當時59歲，那個時代最偉大的蕭邦詮釋者之一。
帕赫曼生於1848年，那一年蕭邦還活著。隔年蕭邦去世。一個與蕭邦活在同一個時代的人，在1907年把蕭邦的音樂刻進了蟲膠。從蕭邦活著的年代到今天，中間只隔了這一個人的一生。帕赫曼是一位奇耙，他是少數願意接受新科技錄音的老大師。
但光有這位怪咖帕赫曼老大師還不夠。1908年，蓋斯伯格同時與三位鋼琴家簽下錄音合約：葛人傑(Percy Grainger,1882-1961)、洪堡(Mark Hambourg,1879-1960)，以及巴克豪斯(Wilhelm Backhaus,1884-1969)。三人當中，當屬巴克豪斯最年輕、最富魅力。
那個年代，帕德雷夫斯基(Ignacy Jan Paderewski,1860-1941)、布索尼(Ferruccio Busoni,1866-1924)這些頂尖老大師幾乎都還沒踏進錄音室——他們不確定一根金屬號角能否捕捉他們的藝術，選擇觀望。蓋斯伯格沒有時間等。他要的是技術足夠好、又願意站到號角前面的年輕人。
三年前剛贏得安東·魯賓斯坦大獎的巴克豪斯，24歲，技術精準，速度驚人，充滿野性，而且年輕人沒包袱願意挑戰新科技。
蓋斯伯格的思考規劃很清楚：先讓年輕人建立市場，等成果出來，大師自然跟進。事實正是如此——1911年帕德雷夫斯基才被說服首次錄音，布索尼要到1922年才有正式發行的錄音。
這就是蓋斯伯格的眼光：他不只是在找人，他在建立一個產業的順序。 巴克豪斯是這個棋局的第一步。
他的師承鏈也值得一提：巴克豪斯師承達爾伯特(Eugen d'Albert,1864-1932)——李斯特的學生，而達爾伯特曾在布拉姆斯本人指揮下演奏布拉姆斯協奏曲。布拉姆斯 → 達爾伯特 → 巴克豪斯。1908年那批蟲膠，是這條19世紀德奧鋼琴傳統的最早期物質化文化遺產。
1908年的兩場錄音科技工程
第一場：1908年9月29日
巴克豪斯第一次走進留聲機公司的倫敦錄音室。負責這場錄音工程操作的是蓋斯伯格的弟弟威廉(William Gaisberg,1876-1918)，蓋斯伯格本人也在現場，他是錄音的製作人。（當年的唱片製作完成母盤後，錄音師會留下一個標記在唱片內圈，威廉的標記是一個小寫的f）
號角就在他面前。沒有麥克風，沒有監聽，沒有剪輯。聲音只有一個去向：穿過號角，刻進旋轉的蠟盤。刻錯了，就從頭再來。
那天錄了六面，最後通過正式發行的只有兩面：
Rachmaninoff《升C小調前奏曲》Op.3 No.2 這是這首曲子在人類歷史上的第一次錄音，比拉赫曼尼諾夫自己的錄音早了整整11年。那時這首曲子在歐洲已經紅到作曲家本人每次開音樂會都被觀眾大喊「升C！」逼著安可——他後來說，他非常後悔寫了這首曲子。但在1908年那天，世界上從來沒有人把它刻進過任何載體。直到巴克豪斯。
Liszt《愛之夢》No.3 同一天，同一個錄音室。一首屬於不同情緒世界的曲子，接在拉赫曼尼諾夫的沉重之後，像是一個深呼吸。
第二場：1908年10月19日
三週後，巴克豪斯再次回到錄音室。這次狀態更好，最後完成了六面：
Handel《和諧的鐵匠》（The Harmonious Blacksmith） 韓德爾E大調組曲的終樂章，空氣與變奏。一首在18世紀就已流傳的曲子，在1908年被刻進蠟盤。
Chopin《前奏曲》Op.28 No.1 ＋《練習曲》Op.10 No.1 兩首太短，只好合為一面。《練習曲》Op.10 No.1是展現右手琶音技術的試金石，也是展示巴克豪斯「黃金右手」最直接的方式。
Grieg《挪威婚禮進行曲》 葛利格在這張唱片錄製的前一年（1907年）剛剛去世。這是一首隱含致敬意味的錄音。
Liszt-Paganini《鐘》（La Campanella） 這首曲子在9月那場嘗試了兩次，都失敗了。10月這次終於成功。這是當時技術難度最高的鋼琴曲之一，高音區的快速重複音像機關槍，對號角系統是一個極限考驗。
Weber《無窮動》（Perpetuum Mobile） 來自韋伯第一號鋼琴奏鳴曲，展現手指的獨立性與耐力。又是一首純粹的技術宣言。
Chopin《幻想即興曲》Op.66 一首在1908年已經是家喻戶曉的蕭邦名曲。巴克豪斯的版本速度直率，線條清晰，沒有過多的彈性速度，反而帶著一種不尋常的現代感。
從錄音到發行：一個跨越國境的系統
這八面蟲膠錄製完成之後，留聲機公司的發行系統立刻啟動。
同一個母片，在不同市場以不同目錄號同步發行——英國、法國、德國、美國，同一個聲音，同一個瞬間，同時流向四個大陸。
這本身就是1908年的奇蹟：一個人在倫敦一間錄音室裡彈的琴，幾個月後，在巴黎、柏林、紐約同時有人可以在家裡聽到。
這件事在1908年之前，是不可能的。
蓋斯伯格的眼光，究竟看到了什麼？
1909年，巴克豪斯繼續錄音。
那年7月，他完成了人類史上第一次鋼琴協奏曲的錄音——葛利格A小調協奏曲（大幅刪節版），整個錄音約六分鐘。HMV此後要到1922年才再次錄製另一首鋼琴協奏曲。
同年，他錄下了巴哈《平均律》C♯大調前奏曲與賦格——這是人類有史以來第一次把巴哈的鍵盤音樂刻進任何錄音載體。
20年後，1928年1月4日與5日，巴克豪斯用兩天的時間，完成了蕭邦48首練習曲全集的史上第一次完整錄音。每一面78轉，都是在無法剪輯的狀態下一次完成，全部都是第一或第二次嘗試就錄成的。在那之前，沒有任何鋼琴家做到過這件事。
這就是開創者的眼光——不是看到現在是什麼，而是看到這個人能成為什麼！
那些蟲膠，現在在哪裡？
1908年10月19日那天錄製的六面，加上9月29日的兩面，一共八面蟲膠，是巴克豪斯留給1908年的全部聲音。
古殿目前擁有1908年正式出版的全部8面，完整到齊。這個完整度，在台灣幾乎是唯一的。
5月1日，古殿歷史名曲音樂喫茶第44場，這批唱片將現場以原版蟲膠實體播放。
117年前蓋斯伯格在倫敦建立的那個系統，錄下的那個聲音，當晚將在台北北投「古殿樂藏」，透過唱針與空氣的振動，再次出現。
那個聲音是什麼聲音，只有在現場才能知道。
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【古殿歷史名曲音樂喫茶 第44場】巴克豪斯（Wilhelm Backhaus, 1884–1969）人生最早的錄音 1908
📅 2026年5月1日（週五）19:30–21:00
📍 古殿樂藏｜台北市北投區西安街一段169號2樓
💰 600元（含精緻咖啡飲品）
🪑 僅限10位｜請填表單報名（表單在留言中）
古殿歷史名曲音樂喫茶，是台灣目前唯一固定舉辦此類深度歷史聆聽活動的空間。
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London, 1908: Young Men, a Metal Horn, and a World Transformed by Recording Technology.
A 27-year-old American boards a ship from New York and arrives in London.
His name was Fred Gaisberg (1873–1951). He believed in something that almost no one at the time took seriously: that the human voice could be preserved forever.
In those days, what was a recording? It was a novelty, a street-side curiosity—a trick that amazed people for five minutes before being forgotten. No one thought it would become an industry, and certainly, no one imagined it would fundamentally change how humanity preserves its culture.
I. How a New Technology Changes the World from Scratch
Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, but the initial recording medium was the wax cylinder—fragile, hard to copy, and impossible to mass-produce. The real turning point that turned recording into an industry was a key technical leap: the disc replacing the cylinder.
Emil Berliner (1851–1929) patented the gramophone disc in 1887. Discs could be pressed into copies, mass-produced, mailed, and sold. This was the moment recording technology shifted from a "scientific experiment" into a "commercial product."
But technical breakthroughs were only the beginning. The real question was: Who would record on these discs?
Gaisberg’s answer: The best voices. The greatest artists. Only then would people be willing to pay for a gramophone and then pay again for the records to play on it.
In 1902, in a hotel room in Milan, he persuaded Enrico Caruso (1873–1921) to record. That session changed everything. Caruso’s voice traveled the world through records, and the name of the Gramophone Company became synonymous with the "greatest artists" from that moment on.
But Gaisberg’s ambition went beyond vocal music. He wanted the sound of the entire musical civilization of humanity.
II. The Piano: The Most Difficult Instrument to Record at the Time
In 1907, Gaisberg launched an unprecedented new plan: a project to record solo piano. At the time, this was a massive challenge that no one had ever attempted.
The principle of "acoustic recording" involved sound traveling through a metal horn to vibrate a stylus directly, carving grooves into a rotating wax master. This system could only capture a very narrow frequency range—roughly between 100 and 2500 Hz.
The problem with the piano was its range: it spans almost the entire audible spectrum, with thunderous bass, crystalline highs, and complex overtones. The horn system struggled most with exactly what makes a piano sound like a piano.
Because of this, before 1907, the Gramophone Company’s catalog was dominated by vocal music—tenors, sopranos, baritones. Instrumentalists appeared occasionally, but piano solos were rare because the results were poor and no one wanted to buy them.
But Gaisberg looked past the technical limits of the moment. He saw that the piano was the heart of the European concert hall, a symbol of the middle-class home, and the instrument most familiar to the widest audience. If the Gramophone Company could record great pianists, it would open a brand-new market.
The question was: Who should he find?
III. Gaisberg Chooses a 24-Year-Old Young Man
Gaisberg started his move before 1907. He first persuaded an old master to enter the studio—Vladimir de Pachmann (1848–1933), then 59 years old and one of the era’s greatest Chopin interpreters.
Pachmann was born in 1848, a year when Chopin was still alive. Chopin died the following year. A man who shared a world with Chopin was carving Chopin’s music into shellac in 1907. Only one lifetime separated Chopin’s era from today. Pachmann was an eccentric, one of the few old masters willing to accept new recording technology.
But the eccentric old Pachmann was not enough. In 1908, Gaisberg signed recording contracts with three more pianists: Percy Grainger (1882–1961), Mark Hambourg (1879–1960), and Wilhelm Backhaus (1884–1969). Among them, Backhaus was the youngest and most charismatic.
In those years, giants like Paderewski (1860–1941) and Busoni (1866–1924) had hardly set foot in a studio—they weren't sure a metal horn could capture their art, so they chose to wait and see. Gaisberg had no time to wait. He needed someone with enough technique and the willingness to stand before the horn.
Backhaus, who had won the Anton Rubinstein Prize three years earlier, was only 24. He was technically precise, incredibly fast, possessed a certain "wildness," and as a young man, was more willing to challenge new technology.
Gaisberg’s strategy was clear: use the young lions to build the market. Once the results were out, the masters would naturally follow. And that is exactly what happened—Paderewski was not persuaded to record for the first time until 1911, and Busoni did not have an officially released recording until 1922.
This was Gaisberg’s vision: He wasn't just looking for talent; he was establishing the order of an entire industry. Backhaus was the first move in this grand chess game.
His lineage is also worth noting: Backhaus studied under Eugen d'Albert (1864–1932), a student of Liszt. D'Albert had also performed Brahms's concertos under the baton of Brahms himself. The line goes: Brahms → d'Albert → Backhaus. Those 1908 shellacs are the earliest "materialized cultural heritage" of this 19th-century Austro-German piano tradition.
IV. The Two Recording Engineering Projects of 1908
The Firs
t Session: September 29, 1908 Backhaus walked into the Gramophone Company’s London studio for the first time. The engineer in charge was Fred’s brother, William Gaisberg (1876–1918). Fred himself was present as the producer. (After the master disc was finished, the engineer would leave a mark in the inner ring; William’s mark was a lowercase 'f').
The horn was right in front of him. There were no microphones, no monitors, and no editing. The sound had only one destination: through the horn and into the rotating wax master. If a mistake was made, you started over from the beginning.
They recorded six sides that day; only two were officially released:
Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 3 No. 2 – This was the first recording of this piece in human history, 11 years before Rachmaninoff recorded it himself. By then, the piece was so popular in Europe that the composer grew to regret writing it, as audiences would scream "C-sharp!" for an encore at every concert. But on that day in 1908, no one in the world had ever carved it into any medium until Backhaus.
Liszt: Liebestraum No. 3 – Recorded the same day in the same studio. A piece from a different emotional world, following the heaviness of Rachmaninoff like a deep breath.
The Second Session: October 19, 1908 Three weeks later, Backhaus returned to the studio. He was in even better form and completed six sides:
Handel: The Harmonious Blacksmith – The final movement of Handel's Suite in E Major, "Air and Variations." An 18th-century piece carved into wax in 1908.
Chopin: Prelude Op. 28 No. 1 + Etude Op. 10 No. 1 – Two pieces were too short, so they were combined onto one side. The Etude Op. 10 No. 1 was the ultimate test for right-hand arpeggio technique and the most direct way to showcase Backhaus's "Golden Right Hand."
Grieg: Norwegian Bridal Procession – Grieg had passed away just the year before (1907). This recording carried a subtle tone of tribute.
Liszt-Paganini: La Campanella – They tried this twice in the September session and failed. This time, they succeeded. One of the most difficult pieces at the time, its rapid repeated notes in the high register were an extreme test for the horn system.
Weber: Perpetuum Mobile – From Weber's First Piano Sonata, demonstrating finger independence and endurance. Another pure technical manifesto.
Chopin: Fantaisie-Impromptu, Op. 66 – By 1908, this was already a household name. Backhaus's version is straightforward in its tempo, with clear lines and no excessive rubato, giving it an unusual sense of modernity.
V. From Recording to Distribution: A System Beyond Borders
Once these eight sides were finished, the Gramophone Company’s distribution system kicked in immediately.
The same master disc was released simultaneously in different markets with different catalog numbers—the UK, France, Germany, and the US. The same sound, the same moment, flowing to four continents at once.
This was the miracle of 1908: a piano played by one man in a London studio could be heard months later in homes in Paris, Berlin, and New York simultaneously. Before 1908, this was impossible.
VI. What Did Gaisberg’s Vision Actually See?
In 1909, Backhaus continued recording.
In July of that year, he completed the first-ever recording of a piano concerto in history—Grieg’s A minor Concerto (heavily abridged), totaling about six minutes. HMV would not record another piano concerto until 1922.
That same year, he recorded Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C♯ Major from The Well-Tempered Clavier—the first time Bach’s keyboard music was ever carved into any recording medium.
Twenty years later, on January 4 and 5, 1928, Backhaus completed the first-ever complete recording of Chopin’s sets of Etudes in just two days. Every 78rpm side was recorded in a single take without the possibility of editing, mostly on the first or second attempt. Before then, no pianist had ever achieved such a feat.
Gaisberg chose this young man in 1908. He might not have known how many "world firsts" this choice would lead to. Or perhaps he did. Perhaps it was precisely because he saw this possibility that he made that decision.
This is the eye of a pioneer—not seeing what is, but seeing what a person can become!
VII. Where Are Those Shellacs Now?
The six sides recorded on October 19, 1908, plus the two from September 29—a total of eight shellac sides—are all the sounds Backhaus left to the year 1908.
Ancient Palace currently possesses all eight original 1908 pressings, a complete set. This level of completeness is almost unique in Taiwan.
On May 1st, at the 44th Ancient Palace Historical Masterpiece Music Café, these records will be played live using the original shellacs.
The sound recorded 117 years ago through the system Gaisberg built in London will reappear in Beitou, Taipei, through the vibration of a needle and the air.
What that sound is... can only be known by being there in person.