Happy Birthday Johann Sebastian Bach! 31 March 1685

 

Some piano music just wasn’t meant for the piano

I’m not sure if this is just me, but I wish people played J.S. Bach less on the piano and more on the instruments he actually composed his “piano” pieces for (harpsichords and clavichords). I often dislike how Bach pieces sound on the modern piano and absolutely can’t stand when I have to play Bach on the piano.

Don’t get me wrong – I love some good Bach – the pieces of his that are often played on the piano these days were written for claviers (which, at his time, were harpsichords and clavichords rather than fortepianos or modern pianos). The claviers of Bach’s time were very different from modern pianos (despite being forerunners to the modern piano), which may explain why it always feels so wrong and difficult every time I have to play Bach on the piano.

To a much lesser extent my desire to have Bach played on the instruments he composed for rather than the piano applies to Mozart too, because he composed for the fortepiano rather than the modern piano. However, I’ll let slide the fact that Mozart’s piano pieces are most often played on the modern piano rather than the fortepiano. After all, I feel that Mozart’s piano pieces are actually pretty good on the modern piano, whether played or listened to. (Besides, Mozart’s fortepianos are closer to modern pianos than Bach’s claviers.)

Originally posted April 6, 2019 on WordPress

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