Partiten BWV 825-830

Martin Helmchen is one of the great piano virtuosos who is also interested in historical instruments: "One of the most exciting moments in my life as a pianist was my encounter with the intact, original Spät & Schmahl tangent grand piano from 1790. My initial doubts about whether a modern pianist could master such an instrument were quickly replaced by the emerging conviction that certain things in Bach's music could be brought to life here in a way that is possible neither on the harpsichord nor on the modern piano. Everything here overwhelmed me: the colors, the symbiosis of the properties of harpsichord, clavichord and early piano, the swelling, the opening of the polyphonic structures. It is true that this instrument was built forty years after Bach's death, but, Helmchen continues, "the greatest composers, including Beethoven, complained about the limitations of their instruments, and it is fascinating to play keyboard instruments that were ultimately an expansion and improvement of the instruments these composers knew"