Topic: Queen Victoria's Erard

https://youtu.be/42dVW7Btjmc

Re: Queen Victoria's Erard

A couple of years ago Stephen Hough played a very memorable Prom concert on this instrument:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDDI8yJ..._rel_pause

Re: Queen Victoria's Erard

Such a beautiful harpsichord !

Re: Queen Victoria's Erard

Amaryllis wrote:

Such a beautiful harpsichord !

It's just Victorian bling!
The whole room it was in was practically dripping with gold leaf paint. Chocolate box beauty. A vulgar display of their ill gotten gains.

That's history though, and hopefully the whole royal nonsense will come to an end in a generation or two.

I found the video interesting.

Re: Queen Victoria's Erard

A beautiful piano, splendid in every respect.  I love straight strung pianos, and played a couple of these in a piano shop in Porthmadoc.  They lacked the gold bits, but sounded nice.
I use the Erard regularly on Pianoteq; it has a nice tone as the vid showed.
Lovely instrument!  The royals went over to Broadwood, it being the only quality piano maker left in the UK now.  I owned one, an 1856 7'6" model which had no escapement or much that's in a complex grand action now.  That too, sounded well.

Maybe we could do with a bit of opulence in high society again; the proletariat are getting a bit uppity of late.   

I'm playing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order

Re: Queen Victoria's Erard

I definitely miss a pair of monkeys playing drums on my piano. Alla turca doesn't sound the same.

"And live to be the show and gaze o' the time."  (William Shakespeare)

Re: Queen Victoria's Erard

peterws wrote:

Maybe we could do with a bit of opulence in high society again; the proletariat are getting a bit uppity of late.   

Put away the guillotine lads it's the Scarlet Pimpernel!
Maybe it's always there no matter who you dethrone?