The pianos of the late 18th century have received much more attention from performers and recording artists than those created by the instrument's inventor, Bartolomeo Cristofori. This is partly because few of Cristofori's original instruments have survived, but more significantly because Cristofori's cimbalo di piano e forte was thought to have been something of a novelty; for the greater part of the 18th century, the narrative has gone, keyboard music was intended for a harpsichord or perhaps a clavichord. The present ...
Read More
The pianos of the late 18th century have received much more attention from performers and recording artists than those created by the instrument's inventor, Bartolomeo Cristofori. This is partly because few of Cristofori's original instruments have survived, but more significantly because Cristofori's cimbalo di piano e forte was thought to have been something of a novelty; for the greater part of the 18th century, the narrative has gone, keyboard music was intended for a harpsichord or perhaps a clavichord. The present release, with keyboardist Edoardo Torbianelli playing a copy of a 1726 Cristofori instrument by maker Denzil Wright, aims to provide a musical context for the early piano. It's quite a revelation. There were, it turns out, sonatas written for the instrument by one Lodovico Giustini da Pistoia; one appears at the beginning of the program, and one movement from another sonata is added at the end. It's quite interesting to listen to this minor composer struggle with an entirely new medium,...
Read Less
