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Tangent piano built by Ghislain Potvlieghe, Ninove (Belgium) in 1993, after Baldassare Pastori, 1799 (Grammofon AB BIS, Djursholm)
A tangent piano is the featured instrument in the Keyboard Concerto in E Minor by C. P. E. Bach, Johann Sebastian’s second-born surviving son. Miklos Spanyi is the soloist.
Spanyi considers the tangent piano (which uses slips of wood instead of hammers to strike the strings) ideally suited to C.P.E’s keyboard works, as it has sonic characteristics of both the harpsichord and the fortepiano, and many devices that can modify its basic timbre. The period-instrument group supporting Spanyi is the Concerto Armonico under the guidance of Peter Szuts. The music is beautiful, and the seldom-heard keyboard instrument well worth a listen!
Birthday celebrant Vladimir Spivakov (1946) is the brilliantly talented violinist in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A. The Moscow Virtuosi, which he conducts here and which he founded in 1979, is considered as one of the best chamber ensembles in the world. Great musicians, performing great music.
George Szell wrote that for him, Robert Schumann “is the greatest purely romantic composer and his music the exponent of the more affecting traits of German character. . .”. His affection for Schumann’s music and his commitment to great interpretation can clearly be heard in the 1960 recording with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra of Symphony No. 4 in D Minor.
Spanyi considers the tangent piano (which uses slips of wood instead of hammers to strike the strings) ideally suited to C.P.E’s keyboard works, as it has sonic characteristics of both the harpsichord and the fortepiano, and many devices that can modify its basic timbre. The period-instrument group supporting Spanyi is the Concerto Armonico under the guidance of Peter Szuts. The music is beautiful, and the seldom-heard keyboard instrument well worth a listen!
Birthday celebrant Vladimir Spivakov (1946) is the brilliantly talented violinist in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A. The Moscow Virtuosi, which he conducts here and which he founded in 1979, is considered as one of the best chamber ensembles in the world. Great musicians, performing great music.
George Szell wrote that for him, Robert Schumann “is the greatest purely romantic composer and his music the exponent of the more affecting traits of German character. . .”. His affection for Schumann’s music and his commitment to great interpretation can clearly be heard in the 1960 recording with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra of Symphony No. 4 in D Minor.
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