Old and new instruments

[carol_fodor]

How "early" does a piano have to be to be a Tiger Moth? At the "Chopin Forum" at the Purcell Room a few years ago, there was a period piano (probably an 1840s Erard, I would have to check) and a modern Steinway. I so much preferred Chopin on the Erard!

I have a CD of four Bach piano concertos played on a late eighteenth century fortepiano made by Broadwood. I can't help wondering whether a German fortepiano would have been more appropriate, more 'spiky', as the Broadwood sounds too round and mellow.

[verismissimo]

I have a CD of four Bach piano concertos played on a late eighteenth century fortepiano made by Broadwood. I can't help wondering whether a German fortepiano would have been more appropriate, more 'spiky', as the Broadwood sounds too round and mellow.

Don't think JSB wrote any piano concertos, so playing them on a late 18th century Broadwood seems totally ahistorical.

[BBMmk2]

What do boarders reckon on Pleyel pianos of Chopin's time?

[carol_fodor]

Don't think JSB wrote any piano concertos, so playing them on a late 18th century Broadwood seems totally ahistorical.

oops... I should have read the small print... not J.S.Bach but J.C.Bach.

[vinteuil]

What do boarders reckon on Pleyel pianos of Chopin's time?

... they were his favourite instruments for his personal use; for concerts in larger spaces he opted for Érards.

Both can be excellent. The glorious 21 CD box "The Real Chopin" produced by the Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopin [NIFC], of all his works on pianos of his time uses both Érards and Pleyels, to great effect...

[verismissimo]

oops... I should have read the small print... not J.S.Bach but J.C.Bach.

I did wonder after I'd posted whether it was JC. He, of course, lived much of his adult life in London, so would have played Broadwoods as a matter of course.

[Bryn]

Re. 'other' Bach's, how about C.P.E's for harpsichord, fortepiano and orchestra? Would it sound 'improved' if a modern Steinway and Bechstein were used?

[Hornspieler]

Re. 'other' Bach's, how about C.P.E's for harpsichord, fortepiano and orchestra? Would it sound 'improved' if a modern Steinway and Bechstein were used?

I would think that the esteemed waldhorn, who appears to have changed his ID to "Tony" would be the best person to answer that question.

To me, a Broadwood is a wooden plank*, two of which are as thick as I am, regarding ancient instruments.

HS

* As Captain Hornblower, I have never invited any of my crew to walk it.

[vinteuil]

To me, a Broadwood is a wooden plank

... ah, but which Broadwood? A Broadwood square of 1771? The Broadwoods which so impressed Haydn in 1794? the 1816 Broadwood which so delighted Beethoven? The wretched 1865 Broadwood which lurks unloved and untuned in an upper room here in Shepherd's Bush??

[verismissimo]

...The wretched 1865 Broadwood which lurks unloved and untuned in an upper room here in Shepherd's Bush??

Would that be the one played by Clara Schumann, or one of her pupils? She was very insistent on the superiority of the instrument.

[Richard Tarleton]

For a very old instrument still played today, click on the "original lute" tab and "Read more", top right. This 1590s lute by Sixtus Rauwolf of Augsberg was bought at an auction by Jakob Lindberg and lovingly restored. It had been rebuilt with a new (wider) neck in 1715, but dendrochronology indicates that the soundboard is original - high-grown Alpine pine felled around 1560. The strutting behind the soundboard was supplemented with contemporary wood obtained from restoration work that was being carried out at the Pitti Palace.

Lutes being perishable and fragile very few of this age have survived at all, so just about all lute players today play copies. I've heard JL play this one a couple of times. Unlike pianos, of course, lutes and lute repertoire faded out in the mid 18th century.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Realistically, if you want the sound of a period instrument, it makes more sense to play on copies. Mozart never played on 250-year-old instruments - only brand-spanking new ones.

But having heard Christian Blackshaw playing Mozart at Snape Maltings on a modern Steinway, I find it difficult to imagine anyone reaching the same inner depths of the music on a period piano e forte.

[vinteuil]

But having heard Christian Blackshaw playing Mozart at Snape Maltings on a modern Steinway, I find it difficult to imagine anyone reaching the same inner depths of the music on a period piano e forte.

... well, I am just sorry to think that your imagination shd be so constricted!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I like to hear wonderful sounds - not imagine them.

[Tony Halstead]

Realistically, if you want the sound of a period instrument, it makes more sense to play on copies. Mozart never played on 250-year-old instruments - only brand-spanking new ones

I do agree with you. I have never on these boards advocated the use of 'originals'. It has often occurred to me that if an 18th c.
'original' survives in any sort of playable condition ( especially a keyboard instrument) then it's a sure sign that it's probably not a very good one! An excellent one would have been 'played to death'.