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VANESSAWAGNER
While we’re on that subject, can you tell us how you chose to divide your
programme between the instruments?
Mozart’s Fantasia in D minor, which I’ve known since childhood, seemed to me to
find its place quite naturally on the fortepiano.As a counterpart to the big Clementi
sonata, I recorded Mozart’s Sonata K570, a work of his maturity, on the modern
piano. It’s a piece that’s full of grace and humour, extremely dense, sometimes
poignant. It displays all the facets of the Mozart I love: intensity and simplicity,
which you find in the sumptuous secondmovement. I decided to record Clementi’s
Sonata op.23 no.2, which is an early work, on the fortepiano.
What effect does it produce on theperformer tomove fromone instrument
to the other?
It modifies our sonic points of reference: some notes in the lower medium of
the modern piano seem very low on the fortepiano. And that in turn shifts our
perception of colour and meaning. The differences of tempo imposed by the two
instruments are also striking. Finally, the dynamics one can produce are much
harder to achieve on the fortepiano. They can even seemdiminished. That forces us
to look for something different. But the main lessons I draw from this experience
of alternation are to do with touch: now, thanks to my frequentation of period
instruments, I look for greater subtlety, clarity and articulation of phrasing on the
modern piano.