Piano history and musical performance

The modern piano has a heavy metal frame, thick strings made of top-grade steel, and a sturdy action with a substantial touch weight.

These changes have created a piano with a powerful tone that carries well in large halls, and which produces notes with a very long sustain time.

These changes have given rise to interpretive questions and controversies about performing earlier literature on modern pianos, particularly since recent decades have seen the revival of historical instruments for concert use.

One view that is sometimes taken is that these composers were dissatisfied with their pianos, and in fact were writing visionary "music of the future" with a more robust sound in mind.

As an anonymous commentator (see References below) writes, "[the] earlier instruments all demonstrate a lighter and clearer sound than their modern counterparts.

Lines can emerge more clearly; rapid passages and ornaments are more easily enunciated by instruments whose main purpose is not volume and power."

During the Classical era, the damper pedal was generally not used as it is in later music; that is, as a more or less constant amplification and modulation of the basic piano sound.

Thus, modern pianists typically modify their playing style to help compensate for the difference in instruments, for example by lifting the pedal discreetly (and often partially), or by half or quarter-pedaling.

This instrument was made in 1868 by the Streicher firm, which was run by the descendants of the great pioneer 18th-century maker Johann Andreas Stein.

Good observes (p. 201): "the tone, especially in the bass, is open, has relatively strong higher partials than a Steinway would have, and gives a somewhat distinct, though not hard, sound."

He goes on to note the implications of these differences for the performance of Brahms's music: Although the revival of later such 19th-century pianos has not been pursued to anywhere near the extent seen in the Classical fortepiano, the effort has from time to time been made; for instance, the pianist Jörg Demus has issued a recording of Brahms's works as performed on pianos of his day.

To this end the pianist Gwendolyn Mok has recently made commercial recordings of Ravel's music on an 1875 Erard piano; see External Links below.