Using a replica of Beethoven-s Erard piano, scholar and performer Tom Beghin launches a striking reinterpretation of a key period of Beethoven-s work. In 1803 Beethoven acquired a French piano from the Erard Frères 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. -Beethoven-s French Piano returns the reader to this period of Beethoven-s enthusiasm for all things French.-What traces of the Erard-s 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
