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A Tale of Ambition and Frustration

Tom Beghin
Using a replica of Beethovens Erard piano, scholar and performer Tom Beghin launches a striking reinterpretation of a key period of Beethovens work.

In 1803 Beethoven acquired a French piano from the Erard Frres workshop in Paris. The composer was so enchanted with it, one visitor reported, that he regards all the pianos made here as rubbish by comparison. While Beethoven loved its sound, the touch of the French keyboard was much heavier than that of the Viennese pianos he had been used to. Hoping to overcome this drawback, he commissioned a local technician to undertake a series of revisions, with ultimately disappointing results. Beethoven set aside the Erard piano for good in 1810.

Beethovens French Piano returns the reader to this period of Beethovens enthusiasm for all things French. What traces of the Erards presence can be found in piano sonatas like his Waldstein and Appassionata? To answer this question, Tom Beghin worked with a team of historians and musicians to commission the making of an accurate replica of the Erard piano. As both a scholar and a recording artist, Beghin is uniquely positioned to guide us through this key period of Beethovens work. Whether buried in archives, investigating the output of the French pianists who so fascinated Beethoven, or seated at the keyboard of his Erard, Beghin thinks and feels his way into the mind of the composer, bringing startling new insights into some of the best-known piano compositions of all time