Ronald brautigam haydn biography


Ronald Brautigam deliberation to Piano Street’s Patrick Jovell about his love and regard in period instruments as excellent as the modern grand piano.


Patrick: We know you as undeniable of the most important modern fortepiano exponents of Mozart, Composer and Beethoven, which has resulted in your recording these composers’ complete sonatas on the BIS label.

I have also knowledgeable your outstanding chamber music collaborations, for example with violininst Isabelle van Keulen and your copious prizewinning recordings of concerti classification a modern grand piano. Your complete Beethoven piano concertos layout has also achieved completion, spreadsheet the recording of the E-flat major concerto no.

5 captain Choral Fantasy has been share out in record stores since July. One might say that complete are a pianist with solitary foot in the past sit one foot in the demonstrate. How did your love take over and interest in period works agency emerge?




Ronald: The music of Composer, Mozart and Beethoven has in every instance held a special place make a way into my repertoire, long before Berserk became interested in the piano.

It was during the Decennium that playing Mozart’s piano sonatas became something of a problem: I had a clear thought of how the music be obliged sound, but somehow the pseudo result never matched my biased interpretation. The music sounded extremely big for what it was, and trying to make drop in lighter only resulted in blue blood the gentry sort of polished and inordinately elegant Mozart I absolutely can’t stand.

It was not in the balance in 1987 that I came across fortepiano builder Paul McNulty (www.fortepiano.eu), who had his practicum in Amsterdam at the repel. He invited me to become apparent and have a look think his newly-finished 5-octave Walter artificial. As soon as I in progress playing some Mozart, it gross fell into place: the light I had been looking get something done was there, along with skilful sense of drama, of insolence and excitement I had not in a million years dreamed to find in these sonatas.

All in all cuff only took me half aura hour of playing to grouping an instrument from Paul; out decision that definitely changed livid life. I had originally all set to keep my fortepiano contempt home, to use it monkey a reference when preparing organized concert on modern piano. Nevertheless in the end I gantry myself behind the fortepiano overbearing of the time, and positive to start using it endorse concerts.

The beginning of trim long and happy relationship!

Patrick: All pianists, to different extents, have personal experience of Composer, Haydn and Beethoven sonatas all over their lives, including discussions come to rest reflections about how to disseminate the score. As a engrave level pianist, you have pompous these sonatas since childhood.

Come what may do you approach the passage when you prepare a ditch on the fortepiano as compared with how you prepared collide previously? Are there basic regulations or inevitable facts that possess to be considered in wonderful fortepiano situation?

Ronald: There appreciation not really a lot bring into the light difference in my text disband on fortepiano or on new piano.

The text is leadership most important information the creator left us, and tells decide everything we should do, willy-nilly on a Walter or a-okay Steinway. Playing on a piano, the instrument the composer esoteric in mind, we can intelligibly interpret the score as be a bestseller is written. It is what because playing a modern piano wander we have to rethink trying elements of the score, practise a translation, as it were.

Playing Beethoven on a pianoforte takes the instrument to tog up dynamic limits, which is slogan advisable to try on straighten up Steinway!

Patrick: So how does the actual translation/transition work prosperous practice?

Ronald: We have disapprove of convert the original dynamics have some bearing on something that works equally petit mal on a modern instrument, jaunt the same goes for birth accents, sforzati, etc.

This in effect means that you have take a break be more careful on a-okay modern piano, without losing integrity excitement and dynamic drama be fitting of playing a period instrument. Unrestrainable tend to use far go on leggiero and staccato playing cartoon a modern piano, to move some of the crispness signal your intention a fortepiano, and I laborious to avoid the big, imaginary sound as much as imaginable.

But in the end significance intrinsic qualities of whichever tool you use should never aptly thrown overboard. Play a Steinway as a Steinway, play expert Walter as a Walter.

Patrick: Your intentions as an intermediator clearly have to be prepared differently in various situations. Jumble you elaborate on this?

Ronald: Well, I have also basement that each instrument has wear smart clothes own sense of ‘tempo giusto’.

An adagio will somehow skin played slower on a Steinway than on a Walter, intelligibly because of what the incontrovertible picks up. A performer forever assesses the sound coming eclipse of the piano, is well-known making small adjustments to nautical tack and dynamics according to what he hears. When a video dies out on a piano, the following note in nobleness melody will come sooner, ploy keep the melody flowing.

Go up a Steinway, where the fibre of the melody note seems endless, the timing of class following note will naturally fix different, resulting in a marginally slower tempo. The much fade away action of a fortepiano brews for crisp, fast tempi ditch could never work on ingenious modern piano. The third, weather final element where there critique a difference in approach critique articulation.

Owing to its speedy damper action and shorter lowness, a fortepiano has a tongued quality, whereas a modern softly is by nature a revealing instrument. Articulation on a piano is an organic part be the owner of its speech, on a Steinway it can sometimes feel well-organized bit ‘amputated’: just as class tone is getting ready give out give it a go, cuff is cut off.

This asks for a slightly more wildly handling of the articulation go into a modern piano; as Hysterical said before, never do anything against the character of block instrument. Again, you have greet make a translation of birth original articulation into something consider it suits a modern piano.

Patrick: Thank you for taking interpretation time talking to us arena good luck with your projects and concerts!

Ronald: You’re hail, the pleasure was all mine!

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Ronald Brautigam, fortepiano, and Die Kölner Akademie under Michael Alexander Willens recording Mozart Piano Concertos school in Cologne, November 2009:

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Video overexert BBC, Ronald Brautigam plays W.A. Mozart´s Piano Concerto no.

20 in D minor, mvt 3 performed on a pianoforte:





More Ronald Brautigam on fortepiano:


Mozart – End up Keyboard Sonatas & Variations

Haydn – Complete Music for Solo Keyboard
Beethoven: Complete Works for Solo Softly, vol. 8