Modern pianos
Sir: All enthusiasts for early nine- teenth and late eighteenth century piands must be grateful to Charles Janson for his letter (9 January) about the performance of Beethoven in Bonn on a Broadwood of 1817. But I would like to inform your readers that in Britain public performances on early pianos are common. Apart from many broadcasts on instruments by the celebrated makers Pleyel, Stein. Broadwood, Longman and Broderip, Clementi, Wornum, Zumpe, Tischner, Tomkison and Schiedemayer, there have been recitals at the Purcell Room, the Horniman Museum and the Wigmorc Hall on early pianos, including a Graf of the type owned by Beethoven. There are also a number of recordings available of , instruments in the Colt Clavier Collection—the greatest private collection in the world of early pianos which ranges from the in- credible Pape inventions which conceal their musical mechanism in elegant sideboards or octagonal tables, to a comprehensive range of early Broadwoods.
I predict that in another ten years or so, thanks to the feverish activities of a small band of ded- icated enthusiasts, the con- temporary piano will be - found wanting in character and refine- ment where the true interpretation of nineteenth century keyboard music is concerned. And there is no doubt that for the singer, the flute blower or fiddler, the refined and
narrow dynamic range and clarity from bass to treble of an early piano creates a satisfactory blend-
ing of voices. It is time that today's makers of pianos listened more acutely to the great variety of tone qualities that their predecessors produced. Madeau Stewart Flat 1, 24a Portland Place, London wl
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