“Clementi Grand Piano in Concert, An Evening with Talks, Images, and Live Performance”

“In 1803 Ludwig van Beethoven bought a piano from Sebastien Erard. Erard was a French builder and a brilliant inventor who patented some years later the so-called "double-escapement" system on pianos, a mechanical feature that would have serious impact on piano literature and performance. In 1803, Erard was active in London and built English-style instruments, very much like the original Clementi piano I used for my CD and the replica I will use for the live performance (kindly provided by Malcolm Bilson).

The main differences between Viennese and English piano manufactures (the two competing schools at that time) have to do with action, structure and damping system. Without going into much detail, the final, sonorous result is totally different, having the Viennese fortepiano a short-decaying and crisp sound and a very effective damping system which stops the string's vibration completely after releasing the keys. On the other hand, English instruments are richer and fuller in sound and don't damp the strings totally, leaving a general reverb that fades away slowly after the production of sound.

On November 11 I'll be presenting my new CD which was released in May 2009 and which was recorded at the Granger Homestead Museum in Canandaigua on a beautiful Muzio Clementi Grand Piano of 1822. The piano was recently restored by Edward Swenson and displays the characteristics of sound and damping system that I mentioned above.

This impacts of course the music that it's played on it and, while playing two pieces by Muzio Clementi seemed a logical choice, performing Beethoven on this kind of piano constitutes an adventure. I hope to show through my recording and the presentation, how the Erard piano that Beethoven bought, pushed the composer to look for a totally different array of solutions and effects, in particular in the pieces he composed in 1803 and 1804, the Waldstein Sonata and the Variations on "Rule Britannia" and "God save the king".

Also, following what seems to be a pertinent question raised by this music, I will argue about a potential brief “English period” in Beethoven’s canon, at the time when the composer was disappointed with Napoleon and his imperial coronation and turned to the near Great Britain, embracing its aesthetic products. ALSO,

The CD will be available for purchase after the concert.”