Sometimes you wish you were born 50 years earlier.

[sevencircles]

In most cases I don´t wish that I was born 50 years earlier but I missed out on the golden era of the piano.

the golden era was the early 1960:s I think.  Anyone else agree?

Gould was still playing live, Cziffra, Richter and Michelangeli and Horowitz were amazing then. Rubinstein too. Ogdon was in his prime. Argerich and Pollini were the young and upcoming stars. On top of that the violinists were significantly better then todays too. I am talking about Oistrakh, Kogan, Milstein and last but not least Heifetz.

It would have been amazing to see these artists perform live.

[pianoplayjl]

I wish I were born 150 years earlier because I can get to watch the composers perform works and concerts. It'll be wonderful to see them pianists compared to modern greats like Argerich and Kissin and see what they would like their works to sound like.
But yes the 1960s-1980s would have been awesome. Most  if not some of the legendary recordings we hear today were made back then.

JL

[sevencircles]

I wish I were born 150 years earlier because I can get to watch the composers perform works and concerts. It'll be wonderful to see them pianists compared to modern greats like Argerich and Kissin and see what they would like their works to sound like.
But yes the 1960s-1980s would have been awesome. Most  if not some of the legendary recordings we hear today were made back then.

JL

I don´t think that people would be that impressed if they heard those people play today. Liszt was propably an outstanding entertainer but chances are that his pianoplaying in itself wasn´t that impressive at least not from a technical standpoint. The pianists in those days (correct me if I am wrong) took a lot more liberties when it comes to interpretation and wrong notes were propably a lot more common then today.

It´s possible that the interpretations were more interesting though, Beethoven often played with significant dynamic contrasts that wasn´t in the score for instance. Many pieces almost begs for creccendos and accelerandos even though there are not such things in the score.

Very few players today would dare to do really unexpected dynamic or tempochanges.

[pianoplayjl]

I'd be impressed. It'll be interesting to have the composer first play their work then another pianist from this time and have a discussion about stuff. What makes you say that the compsoers took a lot more liberties when it comes to interpetation? There are not a lot of primary sources that tell about the performance of pianists in the Romantic period ( corrent me if I'm worng which I most likely am).
Interpretations would maybe be a little different to what we are used to hearing but we can't prove that.

JL

[oxy60]

I think to live in the era before recording would have the best chance of hearing great live piano playing. I started learning piano during the 78rpm era. We had touring top people playing recitals all the time. We could choose who we wished to hear. As a student tickets were heavily discounted. The playing was flawless. Obviously because the performer played the same program night after night. 

Then I watched the live playing fade out as the LP stereo record and "hi-fi" came into common use.

At the moment, I seldom see any touring pianists.

[sevencircles]

I'd be impressed. It'll be interesting to have the composer first play their work then another pianist from this time and have a discussion about stuff. What makes you say that the compsoers took a lot more liberties when it comes to interpetation? There are not a lot of primary sources that tell about the performance of pianists in the Romantic period ( corrent me if I'm worng which I most likely am).
Interpretations would maybe be a little different to what we are used to hearing but we can't prove that.

JL

There are reports that indicated that Beethoven pushed the pianos of his time to the limit.  He played fortissimo pretty often and that was about as loud as you could play without breaking it in those days.

[jimbo320]

There's so much to appreciate now or anytime in history really. But I do wish I could go back to my youth and start piano at a early enough age to have done more...

[lostinidlewonder]

50 years ago or so there was a huge amount of tension/competition between Russia and the USA. Probably why this "golden age" was observable in a few different disciplines like Music and Chess, the Space race etc. That's my take on it.

[minor9th]

Very few players today would dare to do really unexpected dynamic or tempochanges.

More's the pity.