In Reply to: Life is too brief for Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven on fortepiano posted by Jay Buridan on January 24, 2017 at 18:02:35:
I feel a bit odd being the one to defend the fortepiano, given that I have only a handful of fortepiano recordings and I can't even play "Chopsticks". But I think there's something important going on here, so here goes:
The essence of any art is the artist's relationship to the tools of the art. All tools have limitations; good artists work within those limitations, or even use those limitations, to reveal something about life. Sure, tools get improved all the time: color digital photography instead of black and white celluloid film; modern indoor kitchen equipment instead of outdoor live-fire cooking; modern mechanical sewing methods instead of hand-sewn couturier techniques; and the list goes on to include modern pianos over fortepianos. Only a fool would disparage these advancements across the board.
Nevertheless, Ansel Adams used b&w to show us something about the nature of light that digital photography couldn't do. Pit barbeque can reveal something about the flavor of pork that a Viking range cannot do. A traditional-technique couturier dress can show us something about the interplay of fabric and the female form that a machine-made dress cannot do.
And a Haydn piano trio played on fortepiano shows us something about the balance and interplay among keyboard, violin and cello that can get drowned out by the power and commanding presence of a modern piano.
I don't need for you to experience any of these artistic exercises, much less enjoy them. But I think to reject any of them (including the fortepiano) a priori is a mistake.
Let us go now in peace.
Happy listening,
Jim
"The passage of my life is measured out in shirts."
- Brian Eno
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Follow Ups
- I'm going to take one more shot at this, and then I will stop - jec01 07:12:38 01/25/17 (7)
- "I don't need for you to experience any of these artistic exercises" - Chris from Lafayette 09:32:22 01/25/17 (6)
- RE: "You know, the old hippies with their Birkenstocks" - Ivan303 18:01:53 01/25/17 (1)
- Oops! Present company excepted! ;-) - Chris from Lafayette 00:30:26 01/26/17 (0)
- "Excercises...." "Experiments...." Sounds so second-class! They're HIP Orchestras, not Blow-mestic Partnerships. Nt - jdaniel@jps.net 11:58:55 01/25/17 (3)
- With apologies to Duke Ellington. . . - Chris from Lafayette 15:00:05 01/25/17 (2)
- I guess that explains why the neighbors look at me funny: it's the baguettes, craft beer, Rachel Podger's Biber.... - jdaniel@jps.net 15:30:18 01/25/17 (1)
- Not I either [nt] ;-) - Chris from Lafayette 16:42:52 01/25/17 (0)