I only wish I could hear it on a genuine period instrument, as this was clearly written for an instrument with features not found on modern pianos (and probably rare even in its time). I had to guess on what that "lute pedal" would sound like.
Interesting! The most "famous" sound variation pedal of early pianos was what you referred to as "old west saloon" effect and that - at time - was intended to feed the "Turquerie" effect, very popular in the period, so that even Mozart used it in his famous march from C sonata. At time it was sort of fashion and many composers had to produce some "à la Turque" music to pamper the listeners with sharp and sudden alternation of major and minor keys and "drums noise" like what they believed the "Ottoman parades" used to always get. Most pieces were intended for orchestra, but to reproduce the effect on pianos someone invented this pedal so that listeners may enjoy it during home parties when someone started play the piano.
I believe you are referring to the so-called "Janissary pedal", seen here playing the very piece you mentioned: ua-cam.com/video/JuhSAbQPk7E/v-deo.html That is another thing I just learned about in researching this piece, and now I kind of want one. But I think that works a bit differently? As I understand it, this pedal just directly operates a cymbal- or triangle-like device separate from the keys rather than altering the sound of the keys themselves. I might be wrong on that, but it seems like the player is able to make the cymbal crash sound occur only at certain times and not on every keystroke, the way the lute pedal or mandolin rail would.
@@Darrel_Hoffman btw funny story but Taskin is a .... Turkish name 😃so in this case he could have used the Janissary pedal in place of Lute pedal to pay a homage to their heritage!
Don't know much his about background, but his uncle was born in the Holy Roman Empire, in what is now Belgium. Given that Henri-Joseph worked in his uncle's shop which manufactured harpsichords and pianos, I have to assume this was written for one of their own instruments. I'm not sure if any of them were equipped with BOTH Janissary and Lute pedals, though it's certainly possible. I'm not sure if it would fit the style of this piece though. It would however be quite appropriate for the one I'm working on now for next week (by Polish composer Emil Smietanski). The middle movement has some nice percussion going on (timpani and triangle), though that would of course be performed by other musicians, not the soloist. But I guess if you had a Janissary-equipped piano, you could tell your triangle player to stay home, as their services would no longer be needed.
Absolute ravishing. Beautiful piano score - crystal clair.
I only wish I could hear it on a genuine period instrument, as this was clearly written for an instrument with features not found on modern pianos (and probably rare even in its time). I had to guess on what that "lute pedal" would sound like.
Interesting! The most "famous" sound variation pedal of early pianos was what you referred to as "old west saloon" effect and that - at time - was intended to feed the "Turquerie" effect, very popular in the period, so that even Mozart used it in his famous march from C sonata.
At time it was sort of fashion and many composers had to produce some "à la Turque" music to pamper the listeners with sharp and sudden alternation of major and minor keys and "drums noise" like what they believed the "Ottoman parades" used to always get.
Most pieces were intended for orchestra, but to reproduce the effect on pianos someone invented this pedal so that listeners may enjoy it during home parties when someone started play the piano.
I believe you are referring to the so-called "Janissary pedal", seen here playing the very piece you mentioned: ua-cam.com/video/JuhSAbQPk7E/v-deo.html
That is another thing I just learned about in researching this piece, and now I kind of want one. But I think that works a bit differently? As I understand it, this pedal just directly operates a cymbal- or triangle-like device separate from the keys rather than altering the sound of the keys themselves. I might be wrong on that, but it seems like the player is able to make the cymbal crash sound occur only at certain times and not on every keystroke, the way the lute pedal or mandolin rail would.
@@Darrel_Hoffman THX much: I did not know about the actual name of that pedal. And, ok, gotcha! I understood the different mechanism! Thanks for that!
@@Darrel_Hoffman btw funny story but Taskin is a .... Turkish name 😃so in this case he could have used the Janissary pedal in place of Lute pedal to pay a homage to their heritage!
Don't know much his about background, but his uncle was born in the Holy Roman Empire, in what is now Belgium. Given that Henri-Joseph worked in his uncle's shop which manufactured harpsichords and pianos, I have to assume this was written for one of their own instruments. I'm not sure if any of them were equipped with BOTH Janissary and Lute pedals, though it's certainly possible. I'm not sure if it would fit the style of this piece though.
It would however be quite appropriate for the one I'm working on now for next week (by Polish composer Emil Smietanski). The middle movement has some nice percussion going on (timpani and triangle), though that would of course be performed by other musicians, not the soloist. But I guess if you had a Janissary-equipped piano, you could tell your triangle player to stay home, as their services would no longer be needed.