[CAUT] Liszt, historical pianos et. al.disccusion and links (long)

[Fred Sturm]

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
>