<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <html><head><style type="text/css"></style><title>Re: Chopin's piano</title></head><body> <div>On 3/19/07, Farrell quoth:</div> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial">I would love to have the opportunity to give a serious listen to three levels of early pianos - all original (which I have heard), properly (authentically) restored, and accurate new reproduction. That would indeed be quite an educational opportunity.</font></blockquote> <div><br></div> <div>Terry, these opportunities are available and interesting, if you have a chance to attend say the Boston Early Music Festival or visit the Smithsonian, the Met, the Shrine to Music or some of the European museums. My perspective is somewhat unusual because as well as modern piano training I spent several years with a harpsichord and fortepiano builder and restorer in DC and Northern Virginia. The early instruments are a revelation to those not blindly stuck in modern piano mode. They may not be to your taste but what they can reveal about the music is fascinating. I personally think exposure to early instruments, the history of keyboard instruments and their literature, would be a valuable addition to any piano technical curriculum. When I started out, non equal temperaments were purely in the early music world, when I tuned Valotti on modern pianos, and told people how easy early temperaments are to tune aurally, I felt like a real rebel. Now, of course, thats not unusual at all thanks to great teachers like Ed Foote. There should be more interaction between the modern and early instrument camps. You'd be, I think, as impressed by the quality of work going on in fortepiano workshops as in the shops of the best rebuilders and designers of modern pianos. But, yes, the claim to reveal the piano sound as Chopin heard it is a bit over the top......</div> <x-sigsep><pre>-- </pre></x-sigsep> <div>----Dave<br> <br> <br> -----------------------------<br> Dave Doremus, RPT<br> New Orleans<br> ------------------------------</div> </body> </html>