Just received a CD of Andras Schiff playing various bagatelles and short pieces on B's own Broadwood piano(forte) (HCD 11885). It is very interesting to hear, and perhaps does some justice to the concept of period instruments. The liner notes give a short history of the instrument (even though it was a gift, B couldn't afford the customs duty on it, so he got a special waiver from the Emperor!) and I noted that when it was observed by others a few years later, the strings were all broken in the upper registers. Perhaps this explains Rosen's remark that the finale movement of one of his late works, if played as written, would be a good explanation of the stories he heard of B's pianos having broken strings! In any case, this is quite a nice CD, in the event that anyone has run across it and wondered.
Regards, Gurn
Regards, Gurn
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