Kalkbrenner - The London Years

[jerfilm]

I've just been sampling a bit of this three disc set.  The performances I guess are OK.  But for the life of me, I can't understand why anyone would spend the time and energy to learn all of these complex Sonatas and Etudes and then record them on an 1812 piano that sounds something like a cross between a harpsichord and a barroom piano???  Is it just my old ears or do others find these thin, tinny sounds distracting and annoying?

Jerry

[Alan Howe]

No, it's the fetish for authenticity - even when the result is unlistenable.

[semloh]

Yes, I am always wary of that fetish, but sometimes it really works well having a 'fortepiano' in place of a modern instrument.  I think it works well in small ensemble pieces, such as duets with guitar, where the balance is important. Maybe I just like that rather 'bar room' sound! 

Shouldn't this be Kalkbrenner, by the way?

[jerfilm]

Indeed it should be.  My keyboard drops letters reguarly and I don't always catch them.......  Perhaps Alan can fix it.

[Alan Howe]

Done!

[thalbergmad]

I am much obliged for the information as this is a disk i would have wanted. Early romantic works played on a piano more suited to Winifred Atwell holds no interest for me, authentic or not and i wager if Kalkbrenner had to choose between a 1812 piano or a 2012 piano, he would have chosen the latter.

The Luigi Gerosa recordings are more my style.

Thal

[Martin Eastick]

I feel that I must also add my condemnation here (having already made my feelings clearly known about such matters elsewhere on this forum concerning recent Ries releases). Please, please let us have the opportunity of hearing Kalkbrenner played on a modern instrument; after all, would it seem OK to ONLY be able to hear Chopin, Schumann etc played on instruments of their time! Let's hope that Luigi Gerosa continues with his excellent (so far) cycle - looking forward to his take on Kalkbrenner's Op56 and, of course, OP177!!

[Double-A]

No, it's the fetish for authenticity - even when the result is unlistenable.

I must confess I am always a little surprised at the energy going into opposition to period instruments.  I think it is perfectly ok to prefer modern instruments, but aren't lines like the quote above or the old chestnut about "Kalkbrenner would have preferred a 2012 piano" just a bit over the top?  (And no, Kalkbrenner was used to his instrument, just as we are used to ours--he may well have preferred the cleaner, crisper sound  and the mechanism that required less force to play and the faster tempi that those two differences allow--if he had had the choice).

I don't always like period instruments myself, but it seems to me a case by case situation:  If the player knows what he/she is doing the results can be convincing.  I think I already mentioned Fanny Hensel's piano trio where the many fast runs in the piano become clean and crisp on a period piano even in the low register; a feat that I have not heard achieved with a modern instrument.  But she could play it that way and doubtless imagined it that way when she composed the piece.

Or maybe all those composers became unsung because they lacked the proper instrument when they needed it?

[bulleid_pacific]

And no, Kalkbrenner was used to his instrument, just as we are used to ours--he may well have preferred the cleaner, crisper sound  and the mechanism that required less force to play and the faster tempi that those two differences allow--if he had had the choice.

We can look backwards - Kalkbrenner couldn't look forwards.....  He couldn't prefer something he couldn't know - as you say he didn't have the choice.  We can.  And I do.