Rodney Corkin ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>I'd like some opinions regarding period instrument performace of Classical
>period music, especially Beethoven.  I have long argued that for the
>nuances of the works of this time to be fully realised its no good
>listening to old Alfred Brendel and Karajan/BPO recordings.

Well, no. Try Schnabel and Furtwaengler instead....:-)

>For me modern methods of playing (eg copious amouts of vibrato on the
>strings) and the instruments themselves are inapropriate (eg I suggest
>a piano by Graf circa 1820's if far more suitable for exploring the
>possiblities of Beethoven's piano music than a modern Steinway).

Firstly I think you're going to have to say exactly what you mean by
"nuances".

If you're referring to aural textures as the composer would have heard
them then I am broadly in agreement with you.

But there is more to it than that.  I own most of the HIP Beethoven
symphony recordings (Gardiner, Hogwood, Norrington, Bru"ggen,
Goodman/Huggett and various assorted individual symphonies) and while there
are many interesting aspects to the performances, and many of them are very
good, I'd humbly submit that (with the honorable exceptions of Bru"ggen's
Eroica and Choral) none of them can hold a candle to the finest
performances of the past.

We have yet to get to the point IMHO when the HIPsters have the same
insights into the music.

Deryk Barker
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