Hi Folks, It just came to mind that there is another person that owns Erards that might have been played by Liszt. Here is the info: http://www.frederickcollection.org/Erard1877.htm Here is the entire instrument listing: http://www.frederickcollection.org/collection.html Regards. Victor Belanger RPT On 2/17/05 11:39 AM, "Bdshull@aol.com" <Bdshull@aol.com> wrote: > Hi, Richard, > > Thanks for you incredibly entertaining post! > > While Liszt did endorse, own and play a multitude of pianos throughout his > life, the piano of choice during his "recitalizing" and composing years was > the Erard. His "sound world" as a pianist and composer was informed by all > the brands he came into contact with (and there was a great variety in the > first half of the nineteenth century). But since the Erard was his preferred > instrument through the early 50's, it was his primary point of reference. > > This is why I believe in the importance of replicating the Erard, preferably > an instrument similar to the one donated by our colleague David Moore (who > died in a plane crash a couple years ago) to the National Music Museum: > > NMM 5984. Grand piano by Erard, Paris, 1849. AAA-a4 (7 octaves). Two pedals: > una corda, dampers. Gift of David Moore, Jacksonville, Texas, 1996. > > David made sure to tell me that he had restrung and rehammered this >piano, and > that it was no longer original. But this 1849 Erard was the largest compass > Erard built to date, one of the first 85 note pianos built. It can >accomodate > all of Liszt's literature, while faithfully representing his earlier material > too, since the design remained similar for the 25 years leading up to 1849. > > I don't know what the treble will sound like on a replica Erard, but I would > love to know. Your very entertaining description of the Erard in the > recording isn't the reaction of everyone (my musicology professor loved the > sound of the Erard restored by David Winston in the recent >Emmanuel Ax Chopin > recordings - but he has a more open mind than most... :) > > I still hold out hope we will get more from the treble when the belly is new > and the string is deflected (I haven't found any documentation for crown or > bearing for Erard, but I haven't looked too hard, and would love to find it), > but it seems obvious Erard would have deflected the string some, and a new > belly must sound different than an old one in the treble, no? > > Loved your post...! > > Bill >
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