Rare page - 5 variations on Rule Britannia

[Chris]

The upright piano my mother had when she was growing up (that I too practiced my piano lessons on) has those nice ivory keys. The strings didn't last any 100 years, though. Not even 20 for some of them.

[John Rasmussen]

"How can a string survive 150 years? This is extraordinary!"

More than that: it's miraculous!

I am a trained piano tuner and technician, although I've done other things for a while now. When tuning a hundred-year-old piano one must be very careful, since the metal becomes fatigued so that strings break easily. The only reason I can think of that any strings may have survived is that strings in early fortepianos were under much lower tension. The average string tension in modern pianos is about 160 pounds per string, to make a total of about 30 tons for a concert grand piano. (This is why solid metal frames are required, making modern pianos much heavier than fortepianos or harpsichords.)

Also, I believe that the hammers in those days were mostly padded with leather, whereas modern piano hammers are of felt. Both materials compress over time, necessitating hammer replacement every fifty years or so.

For these reasons, it would be very difficult to reproduce the exact sound of a fortepiano concert from 1800 without meticulous restoration, making the aforementioned Broadwood recording extremely valuable for history-minded music lovers.

BTW, I've heard that Handel also tended to wreck his keyboards.

[John Rasmussen]

Originally posted by Peter:
Now available to members on the rare page
www.kingsbarn.freeserve.co.uk/rare.html

What's up? I tried twice with my password and wasn't allowed in.

[Chris]

Originally posted by John Rasmussen:
What's up? I tried twice with my password and wasn't allowed in.

The password is not the same as your password to the message board. It should have been e-mailed to you seperately. Did you not get this e-mail?

[John Rasmussen]

Originally posted by Chris:
The password is not the same as your password to the message board. It should have been e-mailed to you seperately. Did you not get this e-mail?

Yes, I got the email with the password and just listened to the Variations. Nice performance and recording!

The fortepiano sounded a little fuller than I expected. One can see that the art of piano making had advanced considerably from Mozart's day. And I also see why Beethoven wrote those wonderful dark countermelodies at the low end of the keyboard; they sound beautifully clear on the Broadwood! Not a blur as you hear so often on modern pianos.

Is that recording available for the public? And has Mr. Tan recorded anything else on the Broadwood?

[Rod]

Originally posted by John Rasmussen:
Yes, I got the email with the password and just listened to the Variations. Nice performance and recording!

The fortepiano sounded a little fuller than I expected. One can see that the art of piano making had advanced considerably from Mozart's day. And I also see why Beethoven wrote those wonderful dark countermelodies at the low end of the keyboard; they sound beautifully clear on the Broadwood! Not a blur as you hear so often on modern pianos.

Is that recording available for the public? And has Mr. Tan recorded anything else on the Broadwood?

Not on the Broadwood, but he did a few Beethoven recordings with copies of Viennese fortepianos, which personally I prefer to the English models. I can tell you even the pianos form the late 1780/90s sound better for Beethoven than modern instruments. All this should not be surprising. All recordings presented by me are, or were available in stores.

If you want to know more about the pianos of Beethovens time check this page at this site:
www.kingsbarn.freeserve.co.uk/bpianos.html

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


[This message has been edited by Rod (edited October 16, 2002).]

[Sorrano]

Originally posted by Peter:
Now available to members on the rare page
www.kingsbarn.freeserve.co.uk/rare.html

Early this morning I listened to this very recording as it was broadcast on the radio. I am not 100% certain it was the same recording, but it was performed on Beethoven's broadwood piano and I believe the performer was the same (that is where I'm not sure because I didn't hear the performer's name clearly). This was a pleasant surprise and I enjoyed the performance very much!