Authentic Instrument mp3s - Bagatelles Op.119

[Peter]

Now available to members at www.kingsbarn.freeserve.co.uk/authentic.html

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'Man know thyself'

[Rod]

Originally posted by Peter:
Now available to members at www.kingsbarn.freeserve.co.uk/authentic.html

Some nicer performances from the set by Tan. His playing is not consistant on this CD but the good parts are worth buying the disk for (which is now part of a boxed set on the Virgin label I think). Beethoven's Broadwood sounds solid and colourful though rather 'clanky' (ie a more mechanical, less refined sound) compared to the best Viennese/German models of the time, which I prefer.

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

[This message has been edited by Rod (edited 04-14-2006).]

[Peter]

Originally posted by Rod:
Some nicer performanced from the set by Tan. His playing is not consistant on this CD but the good parts are worth buying the disk for (which is now part of a boxed set on the Virgin label I think). Beethoven's Broadwood sounds solid and colourful though rather 'clanky' (ie a more mechanical, less refined sound) compared to the best Viennese/German models of the time, which I prefer.

Yes I agree about the Broadwood, but having been virtually rebuilt, how close to the original sound are we?

[Rod]

Originally posted by Peter:
Yes I agree about the Broadwood, but having been virtually rebuilt, how close to the original sound are we?

Well I watched the program on TV about the restoration and they left as much of the original material in the piano as possible, including the repairs and alterations made during Beethoven's time. In fact it was said the piano was probably in better condition now than when Beethoven had it. All things considered I think the sound must be regarded as close to the original, every Broadwood model I have heard (all original instruments, not copies) have the same klanky characteristics as Beethoven's. This is why I much prefer the Viennese school models.

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

[This message has been edited by Rod (edited 04-14-2006).]

[Chris]

Thanks, Rod. The No. 3 from this group is the best version I have ever heard. When I first heard it, years ago, I really became obsessed with No. 3, and I couldn't resist playing it every time I walked by the piano.

Op. 119 has some of my favorite pieces to just sit down and play for fun. In fact, here are some UN-authentic mp3s for comparison:

No. 2
No. 3
No. 11

These are played on a Yamaha digital piano, about as un-authentic as you can get. From these, I think we can conclude 2 things:

1. Digital pianos are fun to play around on but are of no use whatsoever for serious music making.

2. I am not a very good pianist.

[Peter]

Originally posted by Chris:
Thanks, Rod. The No. 3 from this group is the best version I have ever heard. When I first heard it, years ago, I really became obsessed with No. 3, and I couldn't resist playing it every time I walked by the piano.

Op. 119 has some of my favorite pieces to just sit down and play for fun. In fact, here are some UN-authentic mp3s for comparison:

No. 2
No. 3
No. 11

These are played on a Yamaha digital piano, about as un-authentic as you can get. From these, I think we can conclude 2 things:

1. Digital pianos are fun to play around on but are of no use whatsoever for serious music making.

2. I am not a very good pianist.

Thanks for sharing your rendition with us Chris! Now I have my new laptop, I may be tempted to use my cubasis recording equipment more frequently - whether I'll be brave enough to share the results is another matter!

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'Man know thyself'

[Chris]

Here's the page with the rest of them:
http://www.gyrix.com/recordings/recordings.html

I have no idea what happened to Nos. 6 and 7. But there are some other nice little Beethoven pieces there. I haven't yet found the energy to attempt to record a sonata or other longer work. I don't think I could stand playing for 10 minutes straight and then making a mistake and blowing the whole thing. I could fix it with the computer, but that just wouldn't feel...right. Maybe I'll do some Chopin, though.

[Sorrano]

Are these in a new format? When I downloaded them they saved as wma files; and I wondered if maybe I had done something different or wrong. It appears that they play via Windows Media Player (I don't have my sound active at this time on this machine), so things look good.

[Rod]

Originally posted by Sorrano:
Are these in a new format? When I downloaded them they saved as wma files; and I wondered if maybe I had done something different or wrong. It appears that they play via Windows Media Player (I don't have my sound active at this time on this machine), so things look good.

Yes the files from now on will be in WMA format.

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