[CAUT] Re: Liszt, historical pianos et. al.disccusion and links

[Victor Belanger]

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
>