Bach/Busoni - Bösendorfer extra keys

[cubsfan334]

Hi all,

It's my understanding that Busoni originally commissioned the construction of the Bösendorfer Imperial so he could play his Bach transcriptions on it. Having looked through some of them, though, I can't seem to find any places that the extra keys on the bottom are actually used. So that begs the question - are there any specific spots where Busoni notated the usage of these keys, or was he mainly after the additional resonance?

On a related note, what other compositions contain notes not "on" an 88-key piano? I know Ravel wrote a few low G and G#'s (Scarbo and Une Barque)... are there any others?

[chrisbutch]

Interesting question, since I'd often idly speculated about what use Busoni might have made of these keys in his Bach transcriptions if they'd been available to him - without my being aware that it was he who'd had the idea in the first place, which is news to me. If, as you say, they don't appear in any of the published transcriptions (and I haven't trawled through them all to check), my guess is that he, perhaps on his publisher's advice, chose not to indicate them in the published versions because only a handful of players would have had access to these instruments. But at the same time when he himself was performing on an Imperial, he could well have made free use of them to double the pedal line, especially in the codas of the big fugues etc. What you do find in the published transcriptions is that he sometimes adds a fifth to the to the pedal line already doubled at the octave, which on some pianos can give the illusion of a 'resultant' 32' stop, like the resultant 32s on Compton extension organs etc.

[ahinton]

Sorabji certainly used those extra bass notes in his works quite frequently, although not in the early stages when he seems to have had a general preference for the best of Steinways over the best of Bösendorfer; he would invariably indicate 8-octave Bösendorfer in each such example. I believe that Debussy, Ravel and Bartók occasionally wrote for those instruments.

Much more recently, the Australian firm of Stuart & Sons have gone farther than Bösendorfer's 97-key instrument with itsw 102-key one that extends the upper register from C to F and they're supposedly in the process of bringing out a 9-octave one with 109 keys from F - F.

I have to admit that, whilst there are undoubtedly many other qualities to admire in the best Stuart instruments (not least the fastidiousness and sturdiness of construction), the point of extending the instrument's range beyond 8 octaves seems somewhat questionable. Time has shown that the principal benefit offered by the extra nine keys at the bass end of the Bösendorfer 290 (the so-called "Imperial") is that of enhancing the overall tonal quality and carrying power of the instrument rather than an encouragement to composers to write for them, so they're only rarely actually sounded.

The sheer difficulty of getting a good singing sound that carries well in the top half of a conventional piano's highest octave remains (although it's more of an issue with some pianos than others), so trying to do the same up to F beyond that "top C" would seem to be well-nigh insuperable.

As to extending the bass down to F below the Bösendorfer 290's lowest C, whilst it might again further enhance the overall tonal quality of the instrument, it would seem inconceivable that a composer would actually call for any of those additional seven notes to be sounded, so I remain to be convinced that the Stuart 9-octave piano is likely to set new standards for piano manufacture; after all, hardly any other piano manufacturer besides Bösendorfer has sought to extend the piano's range beyond the 7¼ octaves that has been pretty much standard for little short of a century and a half.

Best,

Alistair

[chrisbutch]

As well as Stuart, Paulello has also recently joined the fun with another 102-key piano...https://www.cremonamondomusica.it/en/2016/06/23/a-new-piano-with-102-keys-and-straight-strings/

[cubsfan334]

I stand corrected! If anyone's interested, there's an A-flat and G notated on the second-to-last line of the St. Anne transcription.

[ahinton]

As well as Stuart, Paulello has also recently joined the fun with another 102-key piano...https://www.cremonamondomusica.it/en/2016/06/23/a-new-piano-with-102-keys-and-straight-strings/

Of course; I'd forgotten about him! Thanks for the reminder. The straight strung idea seems like a retrograde step but, as I've never heard one of these instruments live, it's not for me to judge. The barless concept was once tried many years ago by the English firm of Brinsmead, with disastrous results and I'm not sure if it's ever been tried by anyone since until Paulello; a marvellous thing if it's stable and works, which one can only suppose to be the case.

It's good to realise that there are people out there willing to try to take the piano into new territory rather than complacently relying on Steinway.

I note that Paulello's website's not been updated for almost four years, though...

Best,

Alistair

[richard black]

The B/B Chaconne benefits from bottom G in the last few bars (obvious where, when you look at it). In addition to big Bosies, a few Erards had this note. I believe it was for the latter that Dohnanyi wrote a bottom G in his Rhapsody Op 11 no. 3.

I've never seen any Busoni actually written below the usual bottom A, but I remember Ronald Stevenson using the bottom C in the aciaccatura before the final chord in the Epilogo of An die Jugend. Pretty sure that was on his own initiative, though.

[mrcreosote]

Good point ahinton about the resonance.

With the sustain pedal in play, those extra strings will produce a spectrum of lower overtones which should "enhance" the lowest of the 88's - but only if you want that sort of thing (!)

It's almost like they should have 2 sustain pedals:  w/ & w/o the extra lows.

[visitor]