Importance of Baroque and Classical eras.

[pianoman53]

I, it seems, am not one of them.

I can only play a piece in a way that is "proper" for me. Anything else is fake, and would, I believe, seem so to any listener. If you don't like my "proper" then feel free to listen elsewhere.  I may even have several different "propers" for a piece, and I may play in a way than only more or less approximates a "proper" way. None of those seem grades of proper, though.

Perhaps you might elaborate what you meant.

I mean, proper for someone who's 5 years old, and proper for someone who is 25 cannot be the same. But ya, there are still limits. As Gyzzzmo pointed out, it's also about the persons abilities.
Then there is something that's difficult to explain, that you touch a bit. It has to do with "being real". If you're play well, but faking it, it's not proper.

[kriatina]

Me too, but the likes of Bach, his sons, Mozart, Scarlatti & Clementi are the foundations of piano playing and the route to good technique.

Without them, we would not have Beethoven or Liszt.

Thal

I agree wholeheartedly... and I would like to add that without Muzio Clementi
who taught John Field not only composition but also the special Clementi piano technique, 
Chopin (who studied Field's technique and compositions very closely)
would perhaps not have developed as he has ...

[m1469]

Just finished reading through the entire WTC, books I and II today.  I thought I was going to start back through from the beginning (well, I did start again, actually) with a different goal in mind, but as it turns out I am going to start reading through all of Haydn's Sonatas because I feel it will be a more beneficial next step at the moment.  Just read the exposition of the first one and it's bewildering compared to the world of Bach, and now I suddenly will want to study Scarlatti more fully.  The importance?  I won't know for certain until I have a different perspective from a later date  .



PS - BAM!