Piano HIP

I was listening again last night to one of my all-time favourite cassettes - Amon Ra (a UK label) Instruments from the Finchcocks piano collection, played by Richard Burnett. It's a selection of historic pianos, superbly recorded and played with appropriate repertoire, charmingly, by Burnett. Clementi and Mozart played on pianos with full 'Turkish' effects have to be heard to be believed.

(Sadly, I just rang Amon Ra to be told that the catalogue is being wound down and no more recordings are being made due to the retirment of the founder. Shame.)

It's the less showbizzy pianos that strike me most, however. I have heard Hausmusik talking on radio about the difference a fortepiano makes to, say, Hummel - making the relationship between treble figurations relate quite differently to the rest of the keyboard work than it does with a modern concert grand. This emerges very clearly in every fortepiano record I have. However, I have never heard a HIP performance of Chopin that didn't make me think that Chopin had put meore into the music than the piano was allowing to be heard.

I'd be interested in your thoughts (and if possible relevant quotes) about whether somebody like Chopin heard the piano of his day and thought 'I can write music for that', or whether he thought 'People can play it now, but the piano that will allow my music to be played as I mean it to be played isn't yet invented.'

We know from documentary evidence (anecdotal, I believe) that the latter was Beethoven's attitude to orchestras and string quartets. But what do you think about Chopin? For what it's worth, I'm inclined to think that John Field represents my first category ('I can do things with this Broadway' and Chopin, my latter ('Roll on the Bechstein Grand'.

Chopin wrote for the instruments on which he played. His figuration speaks better on a shorter-ringing piano. I don't think the added key weight of modern instruments help matters, either.

I've enjoyed Battersby and Ax on old pianos.

If Chopin had an ideal, it was the human voice.

[snip]

I can't answer your question. All I will note is that the evident assumption in some quarters that the improved pianos that Beethoven seems to have wanted would have sounded like, say, a modern Steinway (which as you know sounds nothing at all like the pianos he heard), rather than like a noisier Graf is probably more self-serving than plausible.

Oh, the subtlety. . . would those unnamed quarters happen to be. . . you know. . . mine? ( :

Of course I cannot assume that a modern Steinway would have been what Beethoven had in mind as an idea of improvement

Clarity? I find those old pianos more transparent, especially in the lower ranges.

We can't really know what Beethoven wanted besides range and una corda.

I call that 'pinchy' sound, not clarity but, well...

We do know that he was always looking for extended capabilities, beyond what was 'normal' and what was 'natural' at the time, in both:

What's 'pinchy' about Graf bass? More like, 'punchy'.

Yes!

And the vocal writing in the choral works. Does this imply that Beethoven wanted different kinds of voices? Or that he wanted the kinds of voices he had, but performing his music correctly?

There are limits to the guessing, however, the score being one, contemporary instruments another.

Really.

Well, in my opinion that fits very comfortably into the post-hoc fallacy.

Those who play 'contemporary instruments' and the sworn literalists would like that everybody believed that. Fortunately they cannot legislate their beliefs, one way or the other. (Anti-)musical Calvinism goes again out of fashion, rather. I would personally love to hear Appassionata played by a double-bass player, on one string, provided it was possible and it sounded convincing.

regards, SG (who had in his collection the Chaconne played by a double-bass player, but it ain't working that great)

Rodion Azarkhin, IIRC.

That's correct, on an LP exhibiting great virtuosity repertoire

What was to stop him from writing that low E if he 'wanted it'?

Which is the cause and which is the effect? Are you saying that the score is unrelated to Beethoven's wishes?

It's a little matter of following the evidence if we're talking about what Beethoven wanted. We can't know what he didn't express, so why assume his wishes are congruent with our taste?

I wouldn't presume to know what an 'Anti-music Calvinist' is, but I'd suggest there may be a fair number of them playing Steinways.

But one can't play Beethoven on an instrument he knew?

Maybe he should try again on a three-string bass in 4-3 tuning.