Piano
All of Mozart's mature concertos were concertos for the piano and not the harpsichord. His earliest efforts from the mid-1760s were presumably for the harpsichord, but Broder showed in 1941 that Mozart himself did not use the harpsichord for any concerto from No. 12 (KV. 414) onwards. In fact, Mozart's original piano was returned to Vienna in 2012 after a 200 year absence and was used in a concert shortly after its return. This is the same piano that Mozart kept at his home and brought through the streets for use at various concerts.
Although early Viennese pianos were in general rather inferior instruments, the fortepianos made by Mozart's friend Stein and Anton Walter, instruments that Mozart much admired, were much more suitable for Mozart's purposes. The fortepianos were of course much quieter instruments than the modern concert grand piano, so that the balance between the orchestra and soloist may not easily be reproduced using modern instruments, especially when small orchestras are used. The rise in interest in "authentic performance" issues in the last few decades has, however, led to a revival of the fortepiano, and several recordings now exist with an approximate reconstruction of the sound Mozart might have himself expected.
Read more about this topic: Mozart Piano Concertos, Performance Considerations
Famous quotes containing the word piano:
“There was an old, old house renewed with paint,
And in it a piano loudly playing.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
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—Liz Smith (20th century)
“I will tell you what Jeanne was like. She was like a piano in a country where everyone has had their hands cut off.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)