Dvorák: Cello Concerto in B minor, Op.104 - 1. Allegro · János Starker · London Symphony Orchestra · Antal Doráti Dvorák: Cello Concerto / Bruch: Kol Nidrei / Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme Producer, Recording Producer: Harold Lawrence Studio Personnel, Recording Engineer: C. Robert Fine Composer: Antonín Dvořák ℗ 1962 Universal International Music B.V.
I love Russian songs by Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky. My Mama recorded a CD with a few of them....all wonderful compositions. Here's is one of them.
I have no problem with modern works written FOR the modern piano. I'm talking about earlier works that were composed with a different instrument in mind.
I think we're saying different things. I have no problem with the modern piano as a modern instrument. Composers of today know the dynamics it is capable of. For Beethoven and composers of his era and before, however, the modern piano would have been unfamiliar. But to say that is not to say that Beethoven would reject the modern piano if we could transport one back in time for him, or transport him forward in time. On the contrary, I would expect him to find it interesting and an exciting challenge to compose for it, using it to do what the fortepiano cannot (we'd have to cure his deafness, too, of course). So, again, I have nothing against the modern piano per se, nor do I object to others enjoying earlier music played on a modern piano. I'm just saying that I personally often feel that music written for the fortepiano sounds better to me on a fortepiano than it does on a modern piano, particularly in the loudest sections, where the modern piano has much more to give than the composer could have had in mind. I'm not trying to change anyone's mind. I was just stating a preference.
One of my endearing memories with my father is of us going to a record store and him buying this very LP, probably 1979 or thereabouts. I would've been around 10 at the time. He had the RCA LP of Arthur Rubinstein and Erich Leinsdorf's performance of this piece. We went home and played each one back-to-back to compare. I still have both of those LPs. dan c
This part of your comment I feel implies something we don't know, it's speculation, you know what I mean? We don't know what Beethoven would have composed differently had he the choice of a modern piano. I don't mind your personal preference at all....
Well, again, I'm not saying anything about what Beethoven would or would not have done had he had the option of composing for a different instrument. That would be speculation. You're quite right about that. It's not speculation to say, however, that Beethoven composed with the pianos of his time in mind. That's fact. How could he have done otherwise? Anyway, it's fun to discuss these things with people who like classical music. Glad to have found this place. In "real life" I have few friends who appreciate classical music.
Looks still in print to me. Might be a regional thing? https://www.amazon.com/J-S-Bach-Cantatas-Blu-ray-Audio/dp/B07BF25T1F
With regards to the part of your quote that I bolded, I have exactly ONE friend in real life (outside of my wife) who appreciates Classical music. Nobody else even listens to it unless it accompanies their favorite cartoons. I'm also glad to have this place! Very friendly and relaxed, without the stuffiness of some other Internet Classical Music sites!
Same for me, my uncle. He's really the only person I know who even listens to classical music. I used to have a colleague, but he left the company where I work 2 years ago and haven't heard anything from him since then. My dad does have a few classical CDs but it's been 10 years or even more since he played one.
To fuel the fires of instrument choice, here's an excellent recording of harpsichord music played in a Romantic style on a Steinway-D concert grand! Superbly realistic sound, too.
Villa Lobos/Prokofiev: Uirapuru; Cinderella Suite. Stokowski, Stadium Sym. DCC Classics reissue of Everest LP. Steve Hoffman remastered.
Given that Beethoven had a bit of a reputation for essentially destroying pianos over time due the demands he put on them while playing (the deafness probably didnt help) and that he saw very considerable development of the instrument over his own lifetime, it could be suggested that he was indeed writing for the instrument of the future in his later sonatas, the idealised instrument of his imagination - one with greater dynamic possibilities etc than actually existed at the moment .
Part of that problem is just the recording process which mostly features close mic'ing. It would help greatly if they backed off the mics or used mics which have very smooth treble like the old tube mics or ribbons. Also the halls where music is performed are generally larger now. In the time of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven piano music was performed in homes of the aristocrats which were large but not concert hall size. So modern instruments including pianos need more brilliance to not sound muffled in such spaces. Audiences sit farther back also. So the tonal characteristics of the older piano may have sounded fairly similar to modern pianos in smaller rooms with audiences closer. One would have to do a controlled experiment varying these factors to determine it more exactly.
