# The Piano



## Roberto (Jul 17, 2010)

The piano... is it possible not to like the piano? It must be. Is there anybody on this forum who does not greatly appreciate piano music? If so, how does it make you feel about the great composers for the instrument, about the great concertos, about Chopin, the Schubert songs and all the violin sonatas? Do the pianist-composers seem to you to have limited themselves?

I ask because, being a pianist, I cannot be objective on this. I have tended to assume that we all love the piano!


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

> Is there anybody on this forum who does not greatly appreciate piano music?


Head_case.


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## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

Aramis said:


> Head_case.


With a vengeance.

I liked this post of his. The PS contrasts nicely with the main content.



Head case said:


> Hello Roberto.
> 
> My 6th grade English teacher never liked the injustice I wreaked on the English language, interpenetrating it with any other utterance, unutterable in the English language or otherwise
> 
> ...


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## Roberto (Jul 17, 2010)

Yes - well, it was that comment that made me ask the question in general.....


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## TresPicos (Mar 21, 2009)

Good thread title, by the way.


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

Lol guys - thanks for singling me out! 

Far from being a curmudgeon, I have *tried* to enjoy the piano up until Grade VIII when I was still wearing shorts. My piano teacher was a fearsome romantic teacher - she is possibly the only woman I know who had a beard.

Enough of the psychoanalysis lol.

The best piano concerto has still be to be written - a 'duo concerto for Steinway pianoforte and hammer' - with the hammer taking the lead role. Who needs a stringed instrument in a carcass which sounds like it's wearing a thong? 

Btw there was a really good thread on 'piano vs harpsichord'. The plink plonk and bland dong tones of the piano are just extremely uninteresting as a musical instrument.

Granted - there are some piano albums which I've retained - however most of these from composers (Scriabin, Debussy, Szymanowski) who purvey specific soundscapes, which could not otherwise be translated into any other medium. Whereas others criticise the harpsichord as the instrument par excellence, which best approximates the sound of copulating cats, at least there is that kind of ecstasy from the harpischord's delicate dulcimered tones. I have Beethoven's piano sonatas too, although these lay adorning the floorboards under the sofa, alongside a Beethoven piano concert by the little kid Kissin with the afro hair (now a grown man with a smaller haircut).

Think Chopin. You are probably all familiar with his nocturnes - many of which are transcribed for string quartet or cello/violin solo. Poor Chopin would be turning in his grave. I prefer the transcriptions 

Here is an album which you all need to hear:


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Haha! Sorry, I can't be included with this, because I LOVE piano music, whether it's concertos or solo music. I'm learning piano in school too.

I see how it could be possible not to like it, such as with the composer Sibelius. He believed that the piano didn't have the ability to express that much feeling, and thought it rather an unlyrical, cold instrument (in contrast to, say, violin). He only composed a few piano works, in consequence.


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## Petwhac (Jun 9, 2010)

Harpsichord tires the ear more quickly than does piano.
Bach's keyboard of preference was the clavichord because it has some DYNAMICS. 
The 48 sounds better on piano.


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## Roberto (Jul 17, 2010)

Head case - you are using wit to fend off the utter amazement you cause



> The plink plonk and bland dong tones of the piano are just extremely uninteresting as a musical instrument.


what can one say? You deserve to be chained to a concert grand for a Prom season!

The piano is a wonderfully expressive instrument. However pace Petwhac I think the 48 (ot at any rate most of them) sound better on the harpsichord or clavichord, and I think that is even more true of Scarlatti and Rameau. It is the dry, crisply resonant timbre of the sound... somehow both warm and mellow - can anyone get the right phrases for it?


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## Roberto (Jul 17, 2010)

to Huiluns...

Interesting about Sibelius... I did wonder. I always assumed it was because he could hardly help thinking in terms of the 'colours' of the orchestra


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

> Head case - you are using wit to fend off the utter amazement you cause


Errrr.....no. That's just me in real life 

Actually - I feel the same way when people tell me they can't stand the sound of *proper* stringed instruments, like a cello or violin. I'm in the minority with respect to my tastes in instruments so I give as good as I get 



> what can one say? You deserve to be chained to a concert grand for a Prom season!


The audience might complain when I try to saw off one of the concert piano's legs to improve its balance lol

I love the old stuff (read early 20th century) harpsichord stuff. The pitch and tone (and duration) of the harpischord is precisely what I love about it. The piano manufacturers just got it all wrong! 

Have a look at this thread: 
http://www.talkclassical.com/8117-looking-more-20th-century.html

Harpsichord *1* Piano *0* - gone pianissimo


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## Cyclops (Mar 24, 2008)

Oh no, what a question! I can't imagine not liking the piano, its my favourite instrumentm just wish I had one.


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## Chris (Jun 1, 2010)

I love the sound of the modern concert grand but I can't bear primitive pianos, such as are used to give authentic performances of, say, Mozart sonatas. They sound like the thing Mrs Carhill employed to bash out All Things Bright and Beautiful in primary school assembly. Clatter clatter clatter.


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## Stip (Jan 16, 2010)

Petwhac said:


> Bach's keyboard of preference was the clavichord because it has some DYNAMICS.


Could you cite a source for this? I would really like to believe it, since a friend of mine insists that I should be ashamed for playing Bach on the piano. I'd love to show him this argument.


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## Roberto (Jul 17, 2010)

> I love the sound of the modern concert grand but I can't bear primitive pianos, such as are used to give authentic performances of, say, Mozart sonatas. They sound like the thing Mrs Carhill employed to bash out All Things Bright and Beautiful in primary school assembly. Clatter clatter clatter.


I tend to agree with this - when I hear some of the recordings I find myself thinking - is that how it sounded to Mozart? And if so, his piano concertos appear all the more remarkable, because he was writing, ahead of his time, for the modern instrument


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## Petwhac (Jun 9, 2010)

Stip said:


> Could you cite a source for this? I would really like to believe it, since a friend of mine insists that I should be ashamed for playing Bach on the piano. I'd love to show him this argument.


mmm I'll see if I can find a source. It is a long time since I acquired that snippet of info.
However, in the mean time, you can tell your friend that it is perfectly acceptable to play Bach (above all others) on the piano. Ask him if he thinks the essence of the music is less present when played on piano. Which aspect of Bach's keyboard music (not including organ) is diminished by playing it on the piano?
Presumably since no instrumentation was specified for 'The Art of Fugue' it would be OK to at least perform _that_!


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