The following statement by Jörg
Demus was the underlying motivation for this recording of Mozart's Sonatas
for pianoforte and violin : " I am often asked, don't you think that Bach
and Mozart would have been happy to have known the modern concert grand ?
My answer is inevitable : " The masters were still masters with all that
they had available at that time;
they had therefore composed completely differently than what we know from
their works today.
Because these works were often defined by minutely detailed playing
instructions, and only in their own form have come to us as gifts of fate,
we therefore receive instruction and inspiration from the knowledge of those
instruments for which they were formerly conceived!"
The tone of the historic instruments, all of the sources that bring us
closer to the lives and works of the composers, and evidence of music making
in past centuries, all ease the way to the most authentic interpretation of
the works. Bot one should not loose sight of the fact, that the present day
also plays a decisive part in interpretation, and that there is also an
interpretation of our time in even the greatest possible approach to the
ideas behind the composers works.
The piano in Mozart's day was the pianoforte, the preferred violin was an
instrument made by the brilliant Tyrolean master, Jacobus Stainer (ca. 1617
- 1683). His violins met in every respect the prevailling tonal ideal. They
are distinguished by their unbelievable tonal beauty and are famous for
their "voce argentina" , their silvery tone.
In the 18th century Stainer's instruments achieved prices ten times higher
than Italian violins.
The Stainer violin from 1656 used in this recording fascinates by its tonal
volume and its fullness of tonal colours and harmonic richness.
Thomas Albertus Irnberger
translated by Lawrence Brazier
