2024 !

Très interessant ! ses enregistrements des sonates de Mozart sont remarquables !

The piano makers in that time - Late 18th and early 19th century- experienced a lot. Even Stein developped new techniques. There were different "fields" of development. One was the mechanic and the other was the sound. Kristian compares the sound of the wooden "hammerklavier"/fortepiano with the modern metal-sound of Steinway for example. And there are a lot of more differences Kristian doesnt mention in this short video. - But if you are interested you can find more about that in other youtube-videos as well. All in all I prefer the sound of hammerklavier/fortepiano instruments for the music of those composers who used it - and there are many after Beethovens time like Brahms and Chopin. If you hear a concert -as I do with my Sennheiser headphones- by Mozart or Beethoven with that instruments and an orchestra that is not overpacked with violins, you hear a big variety of instruments. For me, this is the test of recordings: How differentiated is the sound especially in the Forte passages. Compare by yourself.

fortepiano = lucid air sedan, steinberg = container truck

What is the piece at 5:25 ?

Ganz toll

Who built this replica?

There’s only one Forte Piano in Toronto? Or is it just that he is in Toronto. If only there was a way in which a sentence might be constructed in order to avoid ambiguity.

Why is he shaking his head when playing? " No, no no"?

Man, the commitment. To go all the way to Toronto for this instrument...

It is very difficult to believe what this man says...🤥

That looks like it's a very light action.

I want to hear a piano like this in a jazz quartet

Bella

Appreciate the tour of this fortepiano. He is one of my favorite musicians, but this really helped explain more about his finger work technique and the sounds the instruments produce.

Thank you Alison. Great sound and wonderful to hear the differences between the instruments. Are they 415?

Very interesting, though perhaps rather than jumping into the mid-nineteenth century to make comparisons, it might have been useful to compare the Viennese fortepianos with those encountered by Haydn in London (1791-1795), made by Broadwood which were clearly well in advance of, and created a much bigger, fuller sound than those familiar to Mozart. Haydn lodged for some time opposite Broadwood’s shop and retreated there for some peace and quiet to compose, so he had ample opportunity to investigate the possibilities of these new and much larger and more powerful instruments. Broadwood also sent Beethoven new instruments and anyone with a pair of ears can hear the difference between the technique used and sound created by Mozart on his fortepianos (brilliantly illustrated here), and the huge step forward so audible in the last sonatas written by Haydn in London and almost all Beethoven’s even from Opus 2; again, this was really well illustrated by how thin the Beethoven example sounded in your talk. Technique is as important a factor in creating the sound as is the actual instrument itself. Mozart’s technique was an eighteenth century technique and as such was complete in itself; there is little further development even in the latest works. He was somewhat disparaging of Clementi after the famous ‘competition’ between the two of them, but in fact, Clementi was at the forefront of a new, 19th century technique which was fully adopted (and developed) by Beethoven and other composers, rather than that of Mozart. Haydn too, writing his late sonatas for the professional pianist Teresa Janson (one of Clementi’s pupils) was writing in a new, more massive Clementi inspired style, with new demands of technique, intended for Broadwood sounding fortepianos. Thus, you find for example octaves in the bass (old style), but with added thirds (new style), something very un-Mozartian; likewise, the opening of Haydn’s sonata in C (Hob. XVI:50) is written expressly for a large scale Broadwood, as are the massive opening chords of the ‘Beethovenian’ sonata in E flat (Hob. XVI:52). Really interesting talk, I would love to hear more, maybe investigating some of the points I’ve made above. The issues you raise are relevant to anyone trying to play the music of these composers on modern pianos as much as to those playing historical instruments. Thank you for uploading this video.

I can only say Amen! This man speakership the truth!

I knew a girl about 40 years ago with the same last name, Bezuidenhout. One night while Christmas caroling she dashed across the street and was struck by a car, a Porsche 944 to be exact. I can still picture her body flying through the air like a rag doll. Anyway, nice playing, and interesting history lesson.

I am doing a lecture recital on this idea for my MA in music performance. I will hopefully be recording myself playing the exposition of a Beethoven sonata on the house piano at Beaulieu - a fortepiano that Beethoven actually played(!!) and comparing it to a modern grand. Is there any difference in touch with the fortepiano that I can add to my written notes before I go?

Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven 2... truly masters of the instrument.

I'll only add one thing to anyone interested, which is that some European pianos still have enough clarity in the bass that you can play a chord and distinguish the notes, for example, Bosendorfers. Steinway's more powerful sound results from having bass strings which are rich in overtones, whereas Bosendorfers (which are not as powerful) stress the fundamental tone more.

Great video!

Just shut up and play the damn thing. And afterwards marry me.

May I introduce, from Arthur Hutchings 'Mozart The Musician' the following pp.71-74 (1976): "Home in Salzburg, Wolfgang had to be content with the family Spath. In his day of triumph in Vienna he could have bought a Stein; yet he bought the Walter and had the pedal added instead of Stein's knee device." I am not including this ex cathedra, simply because in the same section Hutchings diminishes my notion of fortepiano performances, my instrument of performance choice for the classical Triumvirate. I would just note that de gustibus must rule until further refinements of critical knowledge allow us to definitively know what these men of genius truly 'heard.'

The old English pianos were always straight strung and had a wonderful sound. I find now they are cross strung there is a merge of some sounds.

Even modern organs tend to have considerably thinner keys than modern pianos, it this a holdout from earlier instruments or an independently developed phenomenon?

Nice lecture about music but not good history. The Walter fortepiano was NOT the "deluxe" piano of Mozart's time, it was the Stein. Mozart played the Walter, because he could not afford a Stein.

I find it interesting how this piano actually sounds like strings are being hit. I guess it's because I'm so used to the sound of a modern piano, especially considering I've grown up with a piano in my house, that I generally don't think about how the sound is produced, despite that it's merely modified form of the same mechanism the fortepiano uses.

Thank You! It was very beautiful to watch and to hear.

Thank you for posting this very useful video interview.

Excellent info, just what I was looking for. Is this part of a series on the fortepiano?

I have a question. so I can see, you are also the forte piano sustain pedal?

I need to know which songs he played

Thank you, this is helping me a lot. Yesterday I was kind of sad and now I'm very happy. I'm an amateur composer and performer and came to the conclusion, I can't get the harpsichord of my keyboard live to our MixTape in August because it's gonna be to much stress on my bicycle, as I mainly play violin, recorder and sing. But I can play the piano as well-together with my harpsichord on mp3. The piano in our club is pretty old and not in a good condition. To me it doesn't matter whether this fortepiano here is different from the pianoforte - it sounds very much like a piano and absolutely unlike a harpsichord. If piano and harpsichord start with the Ouverture of my little Cantata together, I have kind of orchestral sound. I your science not just helps professional arts, but also amateurs like me, this is very-very useful. Now I can find new ways to express myself within my 1715 style project. The point is, I always shunned the modern piano, because it changes the mood from old style to modern. But I already heard, the combination of piano and harpsichord sounds remarkably. We amateurs learn a lot by buying CDs of performers like you and find our own ways to express ourselves. People should NOT just listen to music, but express themselves as well. In these times the masses are too much standing at the sidelines, just admiring what other people do and that's wrong.

This is great, what a love.

What is that song at 2:15?

nice gay :)