 This image is from ttp://www.metmuseum.org/toah/images/h2/h2_1984.34.jpg | Geoffrey Lancaster, who is a pianist and conductor at the forefront of the historically-inspired performance practice movement, gave a lecture on a history of the piano, titled "How piano is your forte?" on Sunday 28 June at Zenith Music Auditorium for over 3 hours. He gave the lecture with a great sense of humour and passion for piano and music. His lecture covered a vast area of the evolution of piano and he illustrated lots of examples of early pianos and played a snippet of music that helped us understand how certain pieces were intended to be played on the piano of that time. The visual aid (slides) together with his demonstration on the piano helped the attendees to comprehend how the various and |
evolving mechanisms of the early pianos worked and how they were reflected in music written in that era. Not only did he explain different pianos in chronological order, but he also described the development of the early pianos by region (Italy, Germany, Austria and England). Some of the areas he covered in the lecture were about the invention, construction and components of the early pianos including the harpsichord, clavichord and fortepiano. It was fascinating to know that a lot of classical era music was written with the damper raised. It worked to clear the very common misconception that we should avoid using the damper pedal when playing a classical piece! After the lecture, I realised how I cannot put all early pianos into the same category and how largely different they were from one another.
No wonder accurate performance comes with accurate understanding of the history!
No wonder accurate performance comes with accurate understanding of the history!