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I'm going to take one more shot at this, and then I will stop

Posted by jec01 (A) on January 25, 2017 at 07:12:38

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

• Haydn Piano Trios with Fortepiano   (Open in New Window)

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