The Érard Piano
The pianos of Érard and Pleyel have long been associated with Fr&d&ric Chopin. He wrote, "When I am indisposed, I play on one of Érard's pianos and there I easily find a ready-made tone. But when I feel in the right mood and strong enough to find my own tone for myself, I must have one of Pleyel's pianos."
In helping Emanuel Ax to find an instrument for this recording, it was decided that the quiet, soft colorations and limited dynamic range of the Pleyel instruments, combined with their more cumbersome English action, make them more suitable for the salon, but less suitable for the carrying power and virtuoso requirements of the piano concertos. The "ready-made tone" of the Érard is, in fact, revealed to us as an instrument of great sophistication, with a wonderful contrast between the registers - a character largely designed out of our modern instruments. It is precisely this characteristic, so easily found on the Érard, that Chopin exploited. His works played on the Érard give us the opportunity to discover an entirely different palette no longer available on today's instruments.
The piano selected is a superb example built in the Érard London factory in 1851 - a model that would have been "terra firma" for Fr&d&ric Chopin. It was found languishing in a school in London, shoved up against the radiators, its superb voice forgotten and unrecognizable. The restoration required was extensive and had to be approached with great care. I often see my job as a restorer to be similar to that of a voice teacher. I must listen, listen, listen, and search for the inherent voice of the instrument. It is not a question of imposing my own preconceptions, but rather, through use of historically correct materials and musical instincts, I try to "teach" the instrument back to life.
As an instrument maker and restorer, my respect for the genius of Sebastien Érard is enormous. Born in Alsace in 1752, Érard served his first apprenticeship with a harpsichord maker, who dismissed him after being unable to bear the constant questioning and insatiable curiosity of his young apprentice. But Érard was not one to be held back. This same curiosity and inventive mind gave us elegant and simple solutions to the design demands asked of piano makers as we moved toward the Romantic era. It was Érard's patent for the "double-escapement" that set the piano in a new direction. Until the development of his patent, the playing of fast repeated notes on the piano was limited because the player had to allow a key to rise fully before sounding the same note again. Érard's new action allowed a note to be repeated after a key was only raised a small amount. This simple sounding accomplishment was a monumental leap in piano making, and it is essentially this design patented in 1821 that is still found on our modern grands. But, for me, Érard's great legacy is that 146 years ago, in 1851, the date of the piano used for this recording, a piano was produced of such a rich musical sound-world and combined it with an action design which allowed us to explore it.
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