Beethoven would appreciate chamber group’s fortepiano

ALBANY — One of the unique things about a Capitol Chamber Artists’ concert is the group’s use of a fortepiano, especially in works written prior to the mid-1800s. People attending the group’s final concert of its 39th season on Saturday will hear why CCA prefers the fortepiano over a piano.

“This fortepiano is far along in its evolution,” said Mary Lou Saetta, the group’s violinist and artistic director. “It sounds like a piano but it is subtly different.”

For years, Saetta had dreamed of owning a fortepiano because she wanted to hear what the music of Mozart and Beethoven sounded like on the instrument they wrote for, she said. Several seasons ago, the group purchased a German replica of a 1790 fortepiano. Then, around 2003, a friend in New York City heard of a chamber music group that was disbanding and it had two fortepianos for sale at reasonable prices. Because state law prohibits a nonprofit from selling their instruments for more than it paid for them, Saetta said, the price was thousands of dollars less than had a dealer sold them. Without hesitation, Saetta and her husband, flutist Irv Gilman, bought the instruments.

Two at a good price

They couldn’t believe their luck. The fortepianos were not reproductions but originals. One was an 1835 instrument built by Austrian builder Gottlieb Haffner and the other was an 1828 instrument built by another Austrian builder known only as Hashka. The instruments sound quite different, Saetta said.

The 1835 instrument was made of European walnut with 61⁄2 octaves and three pedals, one of which dampened the sound, one that sustained and a moderator pedal that gently muted the sounds. It was in playable condition.

The 1828 fortepiano needed some restoration and had less of a range, but it had five pedals, of which one sounded like bells, one like drums and one like a bassoon.

A modern piano has a little more than seven octaves and three pedals, which sustain or soften the sound and one that holds some strings while the pianist can play other keys.

They discovered the 1835 instrument worked best in their ensemble.

“It had a singing sound. It sounded almost like a string instrument,” she said.

Saetta also didn’t have to struggle to project.

“This fortepiano has no iron frames or big strings like a piano. I found I don’t have to force my sound. I don’t have to use a heavy vibrato. I can even use no vibrato,” Saetta said.What was best, however, was that the sound of the music was more authentic.

“Beethoven would have recognized his music,” she said.

Not so ‘grand’ piano

This never became clearer to her than when the group recorded a Beethoven program but used a grand piano.

“When I heard the recording, I couldn’t stand it. I could hear the artificial overtone sounds,” she said.

The fortepiano gets a more mellow sound and blends with the other instruments better.

This makes the players feel more like equal partners, Saetta said, because they always can be heard.

“You can play the music as Beethoven would have wanted,” she said.

On Saturday, the group will play several Beethoven works. They include his Trio in B-flat for piano, violin and cello, Op. 97 (“Archduke”), dedicated to Archduke Rudolph, a friend, composition student and patron; and his Sonata for Piano and Violin, Op. 24 (“Spring”).

“The Archduke is the most noble of Beethoven’s trios,” Saetta said. “The Spring is very classical in style and technically difficult. It reflects Beethoven’s love of nature. It’s a happy work.”

During the 7 p.m. recital prior to the 8 p.m. concert, the group will also play a Beethoven violin/cello duo, a flute/violin duo, and a Romance for violin and piano. Dan Foster will play piano and fortepiano; Andre O’Neil will play cello.

Also on the program is Benjamin Godard’s “Legende Pastorale” for flute and piano that Gilman recently found. Godard (1849-1895) was a prolific French composer who wrote several works for salon concerts, such as this piece, which is a lovely, melodic work very well written for the flute.

Gilman will also perform Jodi Harris’ “3 Poems for flute and piano.” Harris was a woman composer/pianist who Gilman knew when he was a student at Oberlin Conservatory. It has three musically descriptive movements: Mist, Trees, Snow, Gilman said.

Helpful humidity

However, this concert might not have happened because heat had played havoc with the fortepiano’s strings over the past several months.

They’d become so dry the strings couldn’t hold their pitches. When the pitch of the strings got so low that Gilman could no longer play with it, Saetta called a harpsichord builder who put the instrument into a tent with several humidifiers. Slowly, the pitch began to come up.

“We rejoiced at every increment,” Saetta said with a laugh.