Bill, At 09:33 03/13/2002 -0500, you wrote: >In a message dated 3/13/02 8:28:30 AM Central Standard Time, >hoffsoco@martin.luther.edu (Conrad Hoffsommer) writes: >> >Anybody have any ideas on why an artist of his supposed caliber would >> do this? >>Other than the instructions at the beginning of the movement saying >>"senza sordino", I can't think of a reason. > >I can't either. If you are going *alter* the music by using an instrument >which is far larger with much longer sustain than anything Beethoven had >and particularly, tune in a way which by all accounts Beethoven would >never have had done, why take a small notation like that literally? It >produced very dissonant sounds which for me, ruined it. > >Bill Bremmer RPT Well, it's not exactly a small notation. "Si deve suonare tutto questo pezzo delicatissimamente e senza sordino." I loosely translate that as "play it all delicately and without dampers". Really difficult on a mega Bö. Modern ears are not used to the wash of sound that you get playing a Zumpe square with the dampers raised - kinda sounds like a hammer dulcimer with a keyboard. We hear the music played on a carillon or a cymbalum, even if they don't have dampers, but we insist that modern piano dampers stop the sound IMMEDIATELY, if not sooner. My suspicion is that, even if he _was_ using a howitzer to swat a fly, Schiff was trying his best to evoke some of the original intent of the music. Zumpe squares and pre-1850 Broadwoods or Grafs are mighty scarce on stage, after all. Conrad Hoffsommer - Music Technician -mailto:hoffsoco@luther.edu Luther College, 700 College Drive, Decorah, Iowa 52101-1045 Voice-(563)-387-1204 // Fax (563)-387-1076(Dept.office)
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC