CD: Drums, Bells, and Whistles - Viennese Music on the Thym Piano
CD: Drums, Bells, and Whistles - Viennese Music on the Anton Martin Thym Grand Piano at the National Music Museum
Before our era of electronically-generated special effects, keyboards like the NMM’s 1815 Thÿm grand piano were making their own effects through ingenious pedal actions. Susanne Skyrm’s new CD Drums, Bells, and Whistles: Viennese Music on the National Music Museum’s Anton Martin Thÿm Grand Piano features skillful performances on one of the National Music Museum’s most novel of historic keyboards.
Skyrm masters this remarkable piano’s seven pedals—the una corda, bassoon, harp, dampers, double moderator, moderator, and Janissary (Turkish bells and bass drum)—to create its variety of instrumental sounds. The CD features 18th and early 19th-century works by Wanhal, Voříšek, Herz, and Hummel -- all ideally suited to the Thÿm.
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Professor of Piano emerita, University of South Dakota, Dr. Skyrm specializes in early and modern piano. She gave the debut performance of the National Music Museum’s 1767 Portuguese Antunes fortepiano when it was added to the NMM’s collections in 1992. That led to her interest in the Thÿm. Skyrm, who has appeared as a piano soloist and collaborative artist throughout the US and Europe, previously released a CD on the NMM’s Antunes piano and another, an anthology of 18th-century Spanish keyboard music. |
National Music Museum, 2016. Duration: 62'
Track List (click links below to hear MP3 excerpts);
Johann Baptiste Wanhal (1739-1813)
The Naval Battle of Trafalgar and the Death of Lord Nelson
Narration by Ronald Moyer
Jan Vaclav Hugo Voříšek (1791-1825)
6 Impromptus, Op. 7 (1822)
Henri Herz (1803-1888)
Trois nocturnes charactéristiques, Op. 45 (1828)
Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837)
Trois amusements en forme des caprices, Op. 105 (1824)
