# Recommendation of some good fortepiano recitals



## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

Any good recitals of fortepiano featured the music of the classical period and early romantic period?

Haydn/Mozart/Beethoven/Schubert/Salieri/Cherubini are fine, but it would be even better if the programs help to discover some great works by obscure names. The reason I am interested in is that I recently got to discover the keyboard music of *Hyacinthe Jadin* (1776-1800), who was just a few years junior to Beethoven. Surprisingly, he is probably the predecessor of Schubert in the truest sense in term of harmony. An example:











Probably there are some other gems lurking out there?


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Any good recitals of fortepiano?
There certainly are. Any that feature a modern grand piano instead.
(I've just never gotten my ear in tune with the clanky, clunky sound of the fortepiano. Sorry.)


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

I've been very interested by the Beethoven CD that Tom Beghin released last year, with the last three sonatas. I'd go as far as to say that it reveals something new and interesting about this very familiar music.

You may also enjoy Miklos Spanyi's recent recording of the CPE Bach Kenner und Liebhaber sonatas on a tangent piano, and the recording Robert Hill made of WF Bach Polonaises on Naxos. 

If you get interested in earlier music, baroque music, let me know because there are one or two good things.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

For romantic music, I can recall two recordings which, I thought, were genuinely revealing, genuinely presented the music in a fresh and seductive light. One is Andrea Bonatta's Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses, and the other is Wojciech Switala's Chopin Preludes. Also I very much enjoyed Janusz Olejniczak _complete _Chopin Mazurkas, and Cassard playing the Debussy etudes.

For Mozart there are lots, but the ones that I would urge everyone to hear are the recordings with Daniel Isoir. Beghin, of course, is sensational in Haydn, as is Bilson with Luca in the violin sonatas.

There are things in Brahms and Schumann, and while I think they can be nice (Kuijken for example), I don't think they're quite as special for me as the ones I've mentioned, this may be just me of course! Unfortunately Andrea Bonatta used a modern piano for Brahms.


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## Biffo (Mar 7, 2016)

Andreas Staier has recorded various albums on the fortepiano including Beethoven (and others) Diabelli Variations which I didn't like and Schubert Impromptus D935 coupled with Sonata in G major D894 which I did. He also recorded a highly enjoyable disc of 18th century Spanish music, Variations on the Fandango, which has some lesser known composers but it is played on a harpsichord.

Andras Schiff has also recorded Schubert on the fortepiano.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Speaking of Andreas Staier, there's also his album of music by Jan Ladislav Dussek.


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

Mandryka said:


> For romantic music, I can recall two recordings which, I thought, were genuinely revealing, genuinely presented the music in a fresh and seductive light. One is Andrea Bonatta's Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses, and the other is Wojciech Switala's Chopin Preludes. Also I very much enjoyed Janusz Olejniczak _complete _Chopin Mazurkas, and Cassard playing the Debussy etudes.
> 
> For Mozart there are lots, but the ones that I would urge everyone to hear are the recordings with Daniel Isoir. Beghin, of course, is sensational in Haydn, as is Bilson with Luca in the violin sonatas.
> 
> There are things in *Brahms and Schumann,* and while I think they can be nice (Kuijken for example), I don't think they're quite as special for me as the ones I've mentioned, this may be just me of course! Unfortunately, Andrea Bonatta used a modern piano for Brahms.


Oh yes! I would love to hear Brahms' _Klavierstucke _and the Handel Variations on the period instrument. I remember the famed pianist Jorg Demus attempted some Schumann and Brahms. It has been on my wishlist for a while. Keep the recommendations on going, please!

[video]https://www.mfiles.co.uk/reviews/historical-timbres-brahms-played-on-period-pianos.htm[/video]


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Nereffid said:


> Speaking of Andreas Staier, there's also his album of music by Jan Ladislav Dussek.


Not sure if they're still available, but Staier's Haydn sonatas (3 CD's worth) are terrific.


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

There are another two fortepiano discs ranked high on my wishlist. I gathered from different sources that both have raving reviews from connoisseurs:

*Paul Komen* playing the *Diabelli Variations* on a Conrad Graf fortepiano.









*Walter Riemer* playing *The Art of Fugue* on a specially constructed fortepiano.









To be honest, I think the fortepiano may work well in The Art of Fugue. Didn't Glenn Gould use to use a prepared piano to play some contrapunctus?


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

The Komen Beethoven recordings are no-nonsense performances which are well worth having, the Riemer Bach recordings are exceptional.


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

Paul Badura-Skoda also had some nice performances of Beethoven on a Conrad Graf.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

The Badura Skoda Beethoven set on Astrée is the most consistently rewarding complete set I know.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

There is a fine CD of Igor Kipnis performing an all-Mozart recital, featuring the Turkish Sonata in A.

If you love ornamentation for repeated sections, Kipnis is your man.


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

Here is a good performance of Brahms 1st Piano Concerto on an Erard fortepiano:


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