Auf der beiliegenden DVD befinden sich zwei kurze Interviews mit Michele Bolla und mit Ugo Casiglia, der das Instrument hinsichtlich der mechanischen Klangeigenschaften mit Bolla zusammen konzipiert hat. Ich zitiere mal ein paar Auszüge (gemäß den englischen Untertiteln), die noch etwas mehr über dieses Fortepiano verraten und außerdem Balsam für unsere opi-Seele sind:
Michele Bolla:
At the beginning I was interested in understanding which kind of instruments had the composer when they wrote their music, because so often we forget that the instrument which Mozart owned, the instrument that Beethoven owned, the instruments which Chopin had are very different from the modern piano. Now we perform an entire program with the same instrument, but at that time the instruments were different. So, playing an historical instrument gave me performance insights that then I could apply to the modern piano. And then a few years ago I told myself, why I could not play directly an historical instrument? And then I met Ugo Casiglia, who supplied me this wonderful instrument, and so I began to play it regularly. [...]
This is a copy of an instrument of the early Nineteenth century, so let's say that on it we can play up to Beethoven's Opus 57, also just because of its range. The instrument has a keyboard of five and a half octaves, so already Beethoven's late sonatas cannot be performed on it, as well as all the Romantic repertoire, but it works perfectly for all the Classical repertoire. [...]
Because some notes are lacking, exactly, but also the sound aesthetics has changed, we can say this is an Eighteenth-century sound. [...] At the level of the sound there would be many things to say, because by its very nature this instrument has a sound transparency which is different from that of a modern piano. It would suffice to think at the first chord of the Pathetique, where all the seven sounds which the chord is composed of, can be perceived, whereas in a modern piano often you hear a very denser sound, for sure, almost a kind of roar. [...]
There is more transparency, of course less power, but more transparency. [...] The travel of the key is very reduced relative to the piano, the keys are lighter, narrower, shorter, so of course you have to be very light, use the thumb as rarely as you can, as the textbooks tell us, at that time it was rarely used, especially on the black keys, and then you should not push, not use the weight too much, because the travel of the key is very reduced and you have to be gentle.
Ugo Casiglia:
For a starter, we have to say that this is a copy of an instrument made by Anton Walter in Vienna at the turn of the Nineteenth century - we do not have an exact dating. The playing mechanism is of the kind that will be defined "Viennese". [...]
Here we can see the evolutionary aspects, required by Anton Walter, which enabled the transition of this instrument to the 19th century, with an overwhelming development if we think of Beethoven's life - he lived a quarter of a century of almost yearly innovations of the instrument. In this case Anton Walter redesigned the geometry of the case, leaving out the aesthetical qualities of the harpsichord, which it derives from, added a third string in the high range of the instrument - so approximately a third of the instrument has three strings, whereas the harpsichord or Stein's instruments, for example, which were the instruments of the Viennese make so beloved by Mozart, had only two strings for each note, and mainly created some evolutions of the mechanics. At the same time inventing and thinking how to obtain an agile, quick playing mechanism, endowed with a very great flexibility. The key, the way we see it, embodies the percussion mechanism. His real invention was the so-called capsule, which is a fork, housing the samll steel axis which enables the absolutely free movement of the hammer. The hammer, thanks to the escapement which moves at the other end of the hammer, enables the bouncing towards the string with such a velocity and force to give a sound mass really more powerful, compared to the earlier instruments. [...]
We have to say that the hammers here are extremely small, they are made of lime wood, the first twelve are made of maple, because they have a greater mass, they are covered with skin, whereas in the modern instruments they are covered with felt. [...] The instrument required approximately eight months of daily work. [...] I would say that an instrument such as this one goes a little beyond the aesthetical qualities of the original, which it is modelled upon. [...]
Naja, hab ich auch, bloß in Unkenntnis.