"Chris, please repeat your feelings on the fortepiano"

Well, John, as you know, I'm very sensitive to the feelings of others around here on AA, and, over the years, I've noticed that some inmates here just don't like to be exposed to my opinions about fortepianos (even though I have actual experience playing on them!). ;-)

But because YOU specially requested it, I'm dredging up my post from a decade ago on this topic. The context was CB's recommendation of a certain recording of the Trout Quintet:

"To pick Simon Standage once again, I find that the recordings he made of Mozart and Schubert quartets with the Salomon Quartet (Hyperion), or especially the recording he made of the Trout Quintet with [forte]pianist Steven Lubin (gasp--playing a lovely-sounding Graf [forte]piano of about 1830) on L'Oiseau Lyre to be very close to my ideal in terms of tasteful, expressive violin playing."

To which I responded:

"That's one of SS's recordings I've actually heard - but here I wasn't so bothered by his playing as by the tone of the fortepiano - a kind of desiccated cross between a toy piano and strung-together rubber bands!"

I would only add that, on the one Sonata I heard from Brautigam's cycle (thanks to the kindness of BIS Boss Robert von Bahr), the piano also had an unpleasant, percussive, metallic sound (which I blame on the piano itself, not at all on the engineering) - just IMHO. Other than the instrument itself, I thought the performance was well played.

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Ronald Brautigam's Beethoven Sonatas via the fortepiano - John C. - Aussie 00:05:07 06/15/17 (13)

"the precision one hears on the harpsichord, ... as it is a derivation of that instrument" WRONG!!! - Timbo in Oz 04:00:33 06/16/17 (0)

I'm glad you had a bit of an epiphany, I have not. The whole set was 1/2-off a couple of months ago and very - jdaniel@jps.net 06:46:49 06/15/17 (6)

I now suspect the fortepiano is not easy to reproduce well - John C. - Aussie 16:31:05 06/15/17 (5)

"the fortepiano" do you mean late 18C/early 19c Double-Action - Timbo in Oz 04:14:10 06/16/17 (0)

"Chris, please repeat your feelings on the fortepiano" - Chris from Lafayette 18:33:54 06/15/17 (3)

You like the sound of a fortepiano much more than I do - Analog Scott 07:56:57 06/17/17 (0)

"some inmates here just don't like to be exposed to my opinions about fortepianos" - jec01 07:03:35 06/16/17 (1)

Yes - that was a funny exchange! - Chris from Lafayette 10:43:29 06/16/17 (0)

RE: Ronald Brautigam's Beethoven Sonatas via the fortepiano - PAR 02:53:22 06/15/17 (0)

"Maybe someone here has actually played on one?" - Chris from Lafayette 00:49:09 06/15/17 (3)

Ignorance once AGAIN!!!! - Timbo in Oz 04:05:53 06/16/17 (1)

Not ignorance - YOU'RE making assumptions! - Chris from Lafayette 10:33:23 06/16/17 (0)

Have you heard this one? - kuma 19:38:40 06/15/17 (0)

Follow Ups

"Chris, please repeat your feelings on the fortepiano" - Chris from Lafayette 18:33:54 06/15/17 (3)

You like the sound of a fortepiano much more than I do - Analog Scott 07:56:57 06/17/17 (0)

"some inmates here just don't like to be exposed to my opinions about fortepianos" - jec01 07:03:35 06/16/17 (1)

Yes - that was a funny exchange! - Chris from Lafayette 10:43:29 06/16/17 (0)

"Chris, please repeat your feelings on the fortepiano"

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