The Art of Fortepiano
Bravo to Matthew Bengtson, who performed at Chatham on September nineteenth on his copy of a 1785 Anton Walter fortepiano! Bengtson’s playing transported us back to 18th-century Vienna, providing an enriching perspective to what Bach’s, Haydn’s, and Mozart’s music would have really sounded like, bringing their presence, made distant by the centuries that separate them from us, back to life in the fortepiano. After the performance, the audience jumped at the chance to try out the instrument, which proved to be very sensitive to any unevenness and quite difficult to control–this made Bengtson’s playing all the more impressive. Thank you to all who joined us for this exciting first concert of the 2019 Fall semester!