One of our piano faculty members has a straight strung from the 1860's, but that's probably not what you're referring to? Jeff On Thursday, February 17, 2005, at 05:07 PM, Fred Sturm wrote: > Hi Bill, > I believe the Metropolitan Museum of Art recently acquired an Erard > which was either owned, or at least extensively played, by Liszt. It's > not > out on display at present, but the musical instrument curator was > talking > about it last fall. Offered to take us (a Steinway class) down to see > it, > but we ran out of time - had another place to be. Sounded like it was > supposed to be in playing condition. > Regards, > Fred Sturm > University of New Mexico > > > > 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 >> > > _______________________________________________ > caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives >
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