LDV78.9

25 MICHEL DALBERTO How do you conceive of the notion of authenticity in terms of performance, and what do you think of the issue of the choice of instrument? Beethoven’s imagination seems gigantic, limitless to us. But I don’t think he anticipated what was to happen to music in the future. First and foremost, he understood and absorbed his musical heritage. As a result, performers don’t have an easy situation to deal with: they must ‘forget’ what happened later in history. That is true authenticity. I am sometimes irritated when I hear pianists playing the early sonatas as if they came after the late ones. As for the choice of instrument, it doesn’t really matter. Composers like Beethoven were simply curious and wanted to have ever more efficient actions. The change of instrument was not a problem in itself. And, in my eyes, it still isn’t. On the contrary, I find it rather stimulating! The loss of harmonics caused by the fact that the fortepiano has now been abandoned is compensated by the other advantages offered by the modern piano, such as the presence of the sostenuto pedal. I use it regularly in the music of Franck, whose writing evokes organ registration, and in Debussy. I use it more and more often, especially in the music of Beethoven, but also in Schumann and Liszt. However, that implies rethinking one’s performing technique.