This is exactly right! It's so easy to misjudge the dynamic contrasts on a modern grand piano and when playing on a period instrument like this you can really understand what Beethoven and others were writing as the range is so much smaller.

Thanks! 😀

That’s great! Glad you found it interesting and thanks for listening! 😊

Yes will definitely record a Field Nocturne or two!

Yes I've not played much Schubert on it yet but it would definitely work well!

This is all really interesting information and I'll certainly check out the link. At the moment, Lucy Coad who restored my piano has suggested keeping the pitch at A=392. I believe this is know as "French Baroque". She has said that this is a good pitch for the piano and won't put it under too much strain. I'm also finding it stays in tune relatively well at this lower pitch so that's a good sign. It just means it's a bit difficult if I want to play with other instruments. I do think the whole subject of temperament is fascinating and using other temperaments, rather than equal temperament, does give a different colour to the various keys. Thanks again for your comments and I'm pleased you're enjoying listening to this lovely Broadwood instrument. Do let me know if there are any other pieces you'd like me to record!

​@@JonathanDelbridgeMusic I do indeed could think of any number of pieces for you to record. The first composer who comes to mind as appropos for the 1814 Broadwood, would be Muzio Clementi, Beethoven's "Father of the Piano," his early Sonatas through those that still fit within the FF-f'" range, or selections from Gradus ad Parnassum (exercise 51 Suite of 5 pieces Introduction for example), or works that would highlight the lower register of the pianoforte, (please anything other than the Sonatina in C which is overplayed.) Sandra P. Rosenblum (if a tad bit too much piano-centric for my general tastes as to the history (and often wrong) of the harpsichord and fortepiano) Performance Practices in Classic Piano Music is an excellent source of with a quotations and information from a variety of contempory tutors, is an interesting read for this period, if you can locate a copy in the UK to peruse. Alternatively, Prelude(s) and Fugue(s) from WTC Part II. Clementi (who practiced said in his youth, or being John Field's teacher, a work by John Field, and as John Field was taught from the Well Tempered Clavier (a quirk of history, the Second Part was published first;"John Bach"s (J C Bach) subsequently acquired in the ownership of Clementi until his death. Clementi was involved with the publication of Beethoven's piano pieces in London, ergo a work by Beethoven. Teacher Clementi debutted John Field in Paris in , in which Field played the 48 Preludes and Fugues of Bach from memory to great acclaim. Thank you for any work you choose in advance, I have subscribed as I hope other's will follow suit, and likewise request compositions. Keep up the great work. For anyone else who read all the comments as I do: Square Piano, not the concert grand version, and the rise of the middle class had more to do with the fortepianos rise in popularity in England. The fortepianos of Broadwood in the grand form do not become popular among the rich and the aristocratic until after the year 1792, similar to the harpsichords of Shudi & Broadwood with pedals for venetian swells, and machine stops to quickly remove stops were outside of the pocketbooks and pin money of the better off inhabitants of London. In my youth both John Field in a short biography which clouded (poisoned) the minds of young piano students such as myself and W F Bach (from a work of fiction) were portrayed as alcoholics. The bio of John Field depicted John Field as having an abusive father (alla Beethoven's papa, patently false, his father, Robert Field, earned his living by playing the violin in Dublin theaters, and arranged lessons with young John's grandfather (also John Field, an organist) and studies with composer Tommaso Giordani in Dublin. His father alledgedly, paraded his sonaround as a prodigy, choosing a toy when presented to the Czar of Russia (a choice of any object in a room after a performance without coaching from his dad) and instead of a jewel, none of which being factual, (unless I've slipped sideways through a parallel dimension) and as a result becomin an alcoholic genius, dying from alcholism. In the real world, Field met Beethoven after traveling from Paris to Vienna, eventually settled in St. Petersburg, and alledgely was an agent for Clementi's Pianos (made by the former firm knowns as Longman and Broderip) at the age of 20. PS For those interested in what really happened to John Field...(cut, pasted, and/or abbreviated), Field's health began deteriorating by the mid-1820s...1823 his concert appearances started decreasing; by the late 1820s he was suffering from rectal cancer. Field left for London to seek medical attention, arrived in September 1831. Field stayed in England for some time (underwent surgery) and met distinguished figures such as Mendelssohn and Moscheles. In March 1832 his teacher and friend Clementi died, and Field served as pallbearer at his funeral. On Christmas Day 1832 Field was in Paris, performing his 7th Piano Concerto, After a series of concerts in various European cities, Field spent nine months (1834-5) in a Naples hospital. Field briefly stayed with Carl Czerny in Vienna, where he gave three recitals, and then returned to Moscow with his son. Field's his last concert in 1836, and died in Moscow almost a year later, on 23 January 1837, from pneumonia. "According to an eyewitness report, when asked on his deathbed what his religion was, Field replied with a characteristic pun: "I am not a Calvinist, but a Claveciniste (harpsichordist).""

Thanks so much for all these suggestions and information. I do love playing the music of Field and Clementi and will certainly explore more of their repertoire! Hope you have a lovely weekend and thanks again for all your ideas!@@Renshen1957

@@JonathanDelbridgeMusic Thank you for your reply...I will look forward with anticipation for your performances and videos.

Thanks!

I tend to use Werckmeister III for the square piano but I have tried out other temperaments in the past, including Valotti and Equal Temperament. I think Werckmeister is my preference though.

Thank you so much for your precise answer, dear Jonathan! I kind of have the same preference as you: My piano is tuned according to Werckmeister III 🥰. I play almost exclusively J.S. Bach, and actually I love the temperament of Bach-Lehman. But my local piano tuner is not able to create it, so I stick to Werckmeister III (which he can do and which works fine). For Bach-Lehman the only capable tuner I know would have to come a looong way from Zürich, and in the end it would cost double the price of the local tuner. So Werckmeister III is okay with me. It has a "warm" touch to my ears; I feel that it makes me happy, somehow. Many kind regards from southeastern Switzerland. From A.

Yes, I like the sound of Werckmeister. I use an app on my phone to help with setting the first octave. I've just had a look and Bach-Lehman is one of the options on there. Hope you have a lovely Christmas! @@oneirdaathnaram1376

Which app do you use that has the Bach-Lehman? ​@@JonathanDelbridgeMusic

It's called insTuner and I use it on my iPhone. @@cl9826

You're quite right! It's a lovely instrument for playing music of the classical period and closer to what Mozart, Haydn and others would have experienced. It's fascinating to trace the development of both the piano and piano music moving into the Romantic period with Schubert, Chopin and others.

Yours is at a higher pitch than mine. I think different parts of the keyboard can go out of tune quicker depending on the humidity but I'm no expert!

Opening of Mozart’s Sonata in A major

@@therealtruetwelfth798 Thanks very much

I enjoy playing both!

Thanks. You're right the instruments are very different. I also love hearing Classical period music, such as Mozart, played on an instrument of that time.

Mine is tuned to 392 which is French Baroque pitch.

you're correct that the piano is well below pitch. When I got the piano it hadn't been tuned for a long time and was very flat. With each tuning we are gradually raising the pitch and hoping to get it to baroque pitch A=415.

​@@JonathanDelbridgeMusic a-415 hz then that would be the b note tuning

@@emojijoyio Yes, 415 is baroque pitch which is what this instrument would have originally been tuned to. Taking it up to concert pitch would likely put too much strain on it with the extra tension.

Good evening, Your explanation was absolutely correct, I tune a customers ‘Muzio Clementi’ which sounds very close to yours. I served my time as an Organbuilder and the pitch of A=415hz we referred to it as ‘Old Concert Pitch’ and your explanation of laying a different ‘scale’ in comparison to your modern piano of ‘Equal Temperament’ was really good. These pianos do have their own little foibles, but totally acceptable. :-) ross

@@JonathanDelbridgeMusic “Baroque Pitch” isn’t actually Baroque unless you take into account Gottfried Silbermann’s Dresden Catholic Church the only example of a=415. There’s an author who noted some J S Bach compositions for organ variants in different keys who supposed it was for mean tone tuning, however it might have to do with the pitch. That being said Broadwood’s surviving tuning fork (c= 505 ) from 1800 is approximately a=425 which is also close to: J S Bach’s Leipzig a=421+ 1711 Trumpeter with a split lip turned lutenist John Shore invention, the tuning fork, with a pitch of A423.5 He invented the tuning fork which still exists today. 1780 Organ builder Schulz A421.3 1780 Organ builder Schulz A421.3 1780 Stein's tuning fork A422.6 1751 Handel's own fork A422 out of sequence to show the historical association. 1811 Paris Grand Opera A427 1813 George Smart adopted for the Philharmonic Society the pitch of A423.3. 1820 Westminster Abbey organ of A422.5. So we’ll into the Classic era into the early Romantic In Paris just before the Revolution Harpsichord and later Piano building dynasty of the Taskin family used the low pitch of A409 with their last tuning folk. As the world didn’t start with pitch inflation, and standardization, generally instruments were tuned to what stayed in tune longest. Which begs the next question, What Temperament will you use? Young? Mean Tone 1/4 or 1/6? Forget Equal Temperament, it couldn’t accurately be determined until equipment became available in the 20th Century. As to the two pianos, I prefer the clarity and quality of sound of the square piano to the quantity, woolliness, and opacity of the modern grand. Yes, long duration singing tones as thick and dark as molasses, but Inappropriate for the Mozart, unless one has to fill a concert size auditorium to make the performance profitable.

I love the sound of this music on the period instrument and great to have the opportunity to play on this wonderful piano!

That strange. It seems to be working OK when I check it. I'll look into this though.