Has this Phenomenon happened to anyone else??

[jman]

okay...it's not a phenomenon really but this is really bugging me. I got this CD a while ago, it's called Classical Piano/Music through the Ages. I'm not sure which is hte main title, which is hte subtitle. Anyways, it's got some great music on it, a little bit of everything, but there's something wrong with the playing. It sounds HORRIBLE. I don't mean the players, technically it's all a great performance. But the piano that they're playing on is wrong. It sounds really stringy, not at all like a piano. It almost sounds like a cross between a harpsichord and an electric piano.

So I'm just wondering if anyone has known this to happen before on other CDs (or if you have the same CD and know why). Is it some recording/mechanical problem? Is the piano bad, or worse--are they really playing on a sort of electric piano??? I'm thinking it's not my CDplyaer because I've played it on a couple other CD players and it soudns the same...I'm just curious, really , but if anyone could help me it would settle my conscience.

thankyou muchly.

[Chris]

It could be badly recorded. Or maybe what you are hearing is a fortepiano - a piano from the actual era of Classical music (or a replica of one).

[Rod]

Originally posted by jman:
okay...it's not a phenomenon really but this is really bugging me. I got this CD a while ago, it's called Classical Piano/Music through the Ages. I'm not sure which is hte main title, which is hte subtitle. Anyways, it's got some great music on it, a little bit of everything, but there's something wrong with the playing. It sounds HORRIBLE. I don't mean the players, technically it's all a great performance. But the piano that they're playing on is wrong. It sounds really stringy, not at all like a piano. It almost sounds like a cross between a harpsichord and an electric piano.

So I'm just wondering if anyone has known this to happen before on other CDs (or if you have the same CD and know why). Is it some recording/mechanical problem? Is the piano bad, or worse--are they really playing on a sort of electric piano??? I'm thinking it's not my CDplyaer because I've played it on a couple other CD players and it soudns the same...I'm just curious, really , but if anyone could help me it would settle my conscience.

thankyou muchly.

Considering the title of the CD it seems likely the instrument you are refering to is a piano probably from the second half of the 18th Century. As to its quality or otherwise I can't say without hearing. You will be hearing a lot of these instruments at the 'Authentic Music' page of this site, but these are relatively late - circa 1790 and are well suited to Beethoven's 'first period' piano music. These instruments sound fine to my ears, but of course you got many duff models too in the old days, as you do now.

On the other hand I had a cd by Gould which is definitely a modern piano but the sound is the worst I have ever head of any kind of keyboard instrument, but I suppose it could be the recording itself.


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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin


[This message has been edited by Rod (edited June 02, 2003).]

[Tito]

Without knowing the copyright date(s) on your CD, you might have a compilation of older recordings, badly re-mastered.

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Tito

"Without music, life would be a mistake", Nietzsche

[Sorrano]

Originally posted by Rod:

On the other hand I had a cd by Gould which is definitely a modern piano but the sound is the worst I have ever head of any kind of keyboard instrument, but I suppose it could be the recording itself.

Are you sure it was the keyboard and not just his singing in the background?

[urtextmeister]

Here's an easy solution: find some recordings with fortepianos and see if that "stringy" sound is what you find objectionable. It can be an acquired taste for some modern ears. Personally, authentic instrument performances are not always my favorite to listen to, but I am always fascinated by hearing a sound that might be closer to what was heard in that era.
Regarding Glenn Gould's piano: I believe the piano he always used for recordings was a WWII instrument. It had slight hiccups on certain notes--something a technician could probably fix in ten minutes--but he insisted on keeping it the way it was (along with the squeaky bench). Just another obsessive/compulsive quirk.
I grew up listening to some Beethoven played by Gould. Luckily it didn't scar me for life. At least, the scars are healing. Unconventional to say the least...

[jman]

well that could be it, then...a fortepiano. I'd never considered that.

thanks for the help...it is a 1999 copyright date so I don't think it's an old recording.