Yes, historical pianos before Steinway are “soft and sweet”, if one plays them softly, and can certainly sound “loud and ugly” if banged upon. The real instruments (as opposed to modern replicas) have a full range of tone colors over their dynamic spectrum. (The earlier 19th-century grands were intended for smaller venues where their fortissimo didn’t have to be as loud to reach the back row, so their whole spectrum is at a lower volume level.)

One of the most musically useful characteristics of many parallel-strung pianos is their ability to produce a sweet sound at the pianissimo range, turning to a bright, declamatory tone at fortissimo. This makes it far easier to “bring out a melody” as opposed to a piano that produces only a “beautiful sound”, where one has to struggle to get any contrast among contrapuntal voices. Our own 1866 Steinway is a lovely-sounding piano – everyone agrees on that. But after playing period music on some of our early 19th-century pianos (or even on parallel-strung pianos later than our Steinway) pianists usually have no more inclination to play the Steinway, which is too much like an actress with only a pretty face. Sometimes “ugly” (used judiciously like a strong spice) is musically more useful!

If Mr. Ohlsson has played earlier pianos that sounded loud and ugly all the time, either they have been poorly restored with the wrong kinds of strings and hammers (and, wow! what an ugly sound those make!), or he has used too heavy a touch, which I doubt, given his technical skill.

I am grateful for the free down-load of this lovely Album-Blatt.
Erika Bulow-Osborne