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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