New vistas onto the Classical-Romantic keyboard repertory
Rohan H. Stewart-MacDonald · Early Music · 2011
As the range of recordings of Classical- and Romantic-era keyboard music on restored or replica instruments increases, the breadth of repertory encompassed by them broadens. Standard repertory is thus approached from fresh perspectives whilst new light is shed on the unknown output of forgotten composers. The group of recordings to be reviewed here span the 1780s and the sonatas of Muzio Clementi, through to the late 1820s and Schubert, incorporating the keyboard works of Anton Eberl along the way. Joanna Leach's A century of domestic keyboards, 1727–1832 (Athene ATH23026, rec 1999-2008, 66′) incorporates a wide expanse of repertory, from Couperin, Handel, J. S. Bach and Soler, and even William Byrd, through to Mozart, Schubert and Mendelssohn. The instruments are a 1727 spinet by Thomas Barton and square pianos by Longman & Broderip (1787), Stodard (1823) and Clementi (1832). The rationale is to present ‘domestic’ repertory on equally domestic instruments—in an implicitly domestic space, judging by the closeness of the sound: in the Couperin pieces one can hear every detail of Leach's deftly executed ornaments. Large discrepancies between dates of the instruments and of composition raise questions about instrument suitability. Probably because of the action of the Longman & Broderip square piano, the ornaments in the Air of Handel's Air and Variations sound slightly laboured; but compensation soon arrives via effective use of the lute stop in the variations themselves. The louder passages of Schubert's Ungarische MelodieD817 put the Stodart piano under noticeable strain; but its capacious bass sonorities cope well with Soler's Sonata no.84 in D and the treble–bass dialogues of Mozart's Adagio in B minor, K540.