{"id":113517,"date":"2025-04-14T14:54:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T18:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=113517"},"modified":"2025-04-15T08:00:01","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T12:00:01","slug":"preview-celeste-music-presents-schubert-performed-on-a-19th-century-fortepiano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/04\/14\/preview-celeste-music-presents-schubert-performed-on-a-19th-century-fortepiano\/","title":{"rendered":"PREVIEW | C\u00e9leste Music Presents Schubert Performed On A 19th Century Fortepiano"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"L-R:
L-R: Violinist Chloe Noelle Fedor; cellist Keiran Campbell; pianist Andrea Botticelli (Photo courtesy of the artists)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Night and Dreams: An Evening of Schubert is the title of the next concert presented by Toronto\u2019s C\u00e9leste Music. Schubert\u2019s chamber music will be performed by Chloe Noelle Fedor (violin), Keiran Campbell (cello), and Andrea Botticelli (fortepiano) on May 9.<\/p>\n

The first half of the program features solos and duos, and the second half offers Schubert\u2019s Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat Major, D. 898. All three musicians are active local performers both as soloists and a variety of other ensembles, including Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.<\/p>\n

The concert will represent the first public performance on a newly refurbished 19th century fortepiano built by Conrad Graf.<\/p>\n

While all three are experienced musicians, it will be a first performance for them as an ensemble.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the first time we\u2019re getting together as a trio,\u201d says C\u00e9leste Music\u2019s Andrea Botticelli. We spoke to her about the event.<\/p>\n

C\u00e9leste Music\u2019s Andrea Botticelli<\/h2>\n

\u201cAs a musician, playing historical instruments is a way of being closer to the sounds that a composer heard, or what they had in mind, when they composed the music,\u201d explains Andrea Botticelli. It\u2019s a simple premise, but one that doesn\u2019t really enter into the way historical repertoire is typically either taught or performed today. \u201cMany don\u2019t realize that the music they\u2019re playing was composed with very different instruments in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Botticelli began to learn about historical instruments as a student, and it changed her perspective. \u201cWhen I was introduced to these instruments, it really opened up a world of sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say that Bach or Liszt might not have enjoyed the features of a modern piano. \u201cMaybe they would have loved the instruments \u2014 or not,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

But, undoubtedly, it would have changed the way they wrote. As she explains, the older pianoforte differs in varying ways. The tone varies to a greater degree according to the register. The higher notes on a pianoforte are somewhat thinner, more like woodwinds, with a richer middle register, and then a thinner voice in the bass notes. The sound is, in general, clearer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just sound with a clarity that you just can\u2019t get with an instrument with a warmer and a thicker tone,\u201d she explains. \u201cYou have to make allowances on a modern instrument.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knowing the instrument adds to an understanding of the music written for it. \u201cWhen you really start to explore them and delve into what the possibilities are musically, it\u2019s really conducive to performance practices that we read about from the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

She cites a freer approach to rhythm, and a different perspective on musical gestures. The pianoforte does not lend itself to the long, romantic lines the modern ear is accustomed to \u2014 long lines the contemporary piano does particularly well.<\/p>\n

Tones decay more quickly on the pianoforte, while it offers a greater variety of articulations.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou go further and further down the rabbit hole,\u201d Andrea says of the process of turning research into performance practice. While taking the music back to its roots, somewhat ironically, the result can be a refreshing a sense of vitality.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a way to relive it and revive it in surprising ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The Graf pianoforte (1835) (Photo courtesy of C\u00e9leste Music)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Conrad Graf fortepiano circa 1835<\/h3>\n

Conrad Graf (1782 to 1851), was a renowned Austrian-German piano maker. His instruments were valued and used by the luminaries of the day, including Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Robert and Clara Schumann, and Schubert himself.<\/p>\n

Graf\u2019s company made some 3,000 instruments. There was intense competition in the piano building industry during his lifetime, and new technology that changed the instrument.<\/p>\n

The instrument, built in 1835, was discovered gathering dust in a castle in Hungary, and subsequently restored in the Netherlands. Such instruments are quite rare in North America, and it\u2019s one of C\u00e9leste Music\u2019s goals as a non-profit organization to assemble a unique collection of historical instruments in Canada.<\/p>\n

Andrea and her husband purchased the instrument themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe purchased it from a restorer in the Netherlands,\u201d she explains. That restorer was Edwin Beunk, who was internationally acclaimed for his work with early pianos. Andrea managed to secure the instrument just before he sold his large collection to a foundation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually found the provenance of the instrument after we purchased it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The instrument had been originally purchased by relatives of the von Metternich-family, known for artistic and cultural patronage as well as their involvement in Austrian politics. An Austrian princess in turn sold it to someone outside the family, and outside the aristocracy, and then it was finally purchased by Beunk for his collection.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a beautifully restored instrument with a gorgeous tone,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The pianoforte has four pedals: a damper, the una corda pedal that shifts to create a softer sound by activating a single string, a moderator, and a double moderator. The moderator pedal inserts a piece of felt between the hammer and strings to produce a muffled tone; the double moderator introduces two layers of felt to enhance the effect.<\/p>\n

The concert will perform music which, in its original form, was intended to be played on such an instrument at home, in an intimate setting with listeners close by.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to recreate if possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

C\u00e9leste Music Concerts<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s not only the instruments, of course, it\u2019s the environment that completes a concert experience from both the performer and audience perspective.<\/p>\n

In earlier seasons, C\u00e9leste concerts took place in a private home setting, a situation with inherent ups and downs. The audience was very close, there were livestream glitches, and other technical issues. The ensemble made up for it by talking to their audience directly about the instruments and the way they are played.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really turned into a very nice give and take with the audience.\u201d It shaped their ideas about how to present the ensemble, even in larger spaces.<\/p>\n

After a concert, audience members have a chance to ask questions directly of the musicians, and check out the instruments. \u201cWe want to feel like the audience can get to know us very well,\u201d Andrea explains, \u201cand why we feel what we\u2019re doing speaks more expressively in some ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nature of the pianoforte and other historical instruments influences many details of the concert experience, including how to position the instruments vis a vis the audience so the latter is more included. It makes for a more intimate experience than the typical modern concert hall. \u201cThat definitely will come out in the repertoire,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to think of how to involved the audience more,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

Launched earlier this year, a new initiative saw her reach out to other piano teachers to invite them to bring their students in to try out the historic instruments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of students come in,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s been a really wonderful experience to see their reactions.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s part of the larger goal of not just performing, but creating a kind of collective of people with likeminded musical sensibilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to do, is to create more of a community.\u201d<\/p>\n