Pianist Joanna Leach has recorded a number of works of the early nineteenth century on the square piano -- a box-shaped household instrument that flourished in England, especially, at the time. The perorations ofBeethoven's "Emperor" Concerto may make you forget that a good deal of piano music, from Haydn to Chopin, was written for small rooms and intimate audiences. The 1823 Stodart square piano heard on this recording transmits a bit of action noise to the listener, but it's lovely, with a wide expressive range even as it ...
Read More
Pianist Joanna Leach has recorded a number of works of the early nineteenth century on the square piano -- a box-shaped household instrument that flourished in England, especially, at the time. The perorations ofBeethoven's "Emperor" Concerto may make you forget that a good deal of piano music, from Haydn to Chopin, was written for small rooms and intimate audiences. The 1823 Stodart square piano heard on this recording transmits a bit of action noise to the listener, but it's lovely, with a wide expressive range even as it resides at the quieter end of the dynamic spectrum. The rationale for using such a piano in Scarlatti's sonatas is rooted only to a small degree in historical circumstances -- Scarlatti may have experimented with very early pianos, and the popularity of his sonatas certainly extended into the nineteenth century. Instead, Leach aims toward the creation of a unique sound and in large part succeeds. The defects of this recording are the same as those of most other piano recordings of...
Read Less