The eight-inch Victor records, released in the early part of the 1900s as a low-priced alternative to the ten or twelve inch versions, played just shy of two minutes. This is an example, recorded by the violin-playing recording pioneer Charles d'Almaine and an
anonymous piano player, sometime around 1903. The recording starts out in a semi-classical vein, befitting the tune, and comes to a stirring climax that you have to hear to believe. The man could play! This record had been loved in its time, and the equipment of
the period was not kind to records, making the grooves of this record noisier than they would be otherwise (Victors of this period tend to be noisy anyway). With some carefully-chosen filters the performance emerges from behind the surface noise.
