Re: [F_minor] (no subject)

[Brad Lehman <bpl@umich.edu>]

Ronald Brander wrote:
> The range of compositions in the Well Tempered Clavier alone convinces 
> me that Bach would've delighted in both the piano and the forte of
> the modern instrument.  Gould's performance I'm sure would've
> received a hearty applause from Johann.
> Considering the effect the somewhat modern piano had on Beethoven, 
> I can only wonder how the modern instrument might've influenced
> both Bach's and Mozart's music.

We have the music that Bach *did* write after encountering (and probably 
*for*) the early fortepiano: the two ricercars in the Musical Offering. 
 They're both fiercely contrapuntal, but with a healthy dose of 
episodic freedom in them, too -- as he also did with the Art of Fugue. 
And there is not a single marking of "forte" or "piano" in either of 
them.  They work on whatever keyboard instrument one happens to have 
handy.  I play them on harpsichord, clavichord, fortepiano, and organ....

If Bach (or Mozart) had had a completely "modern" piano, he might have 
written entirely different music.  And, what's modern about the design 
of the "modern" Steinway or Baldwin?  The basic features haven't changed 
in 100 years!

Brad Lehman
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