Insider Interview with pianist Andrea Botticelli

For her debut album, “A Voice From the Distance,” the pianist Andrea Botticelli drew her inspiration from a predecessor of the modern keyboard, the fortepiano. Featuring works by Franz Schubert, Carl Czerny, and Robert and Clara Schumann, the album highlights many works from the Romantic period – both classics and lesser known gems – that are rarely performed on a historic instrument. In our insider interview with Ms. Botticelli, we spoke with her about this historic recording, all things early keyboards, the recording process, and more.

What first drew you to perform on period instruments?  

Most of my training in music school was as a modern pianist, but one summer as a doctoral student, I attended a Baroque music summer program and it was there that I tried a fortepiano for the first time. I was struck by how each historical instrument speaks in its own individual voice! I also thought it was refreshing and revelatory to hear music that I thought I knew well, played with a striking, fascinating, and ultimately convincing sound. I felt I understood more about the music and the composers’ intentions by playing on these instruments.  

How different is the technique between modern piano and earlier keyboards? 

Historical keyboards require an adjustment in the player’s touch to the shallower, lighter keys. The instruments respond to a very caressing touch that would be often too superficial on a modern piano. Along with the altered technique, you hear different sounds that present different possibilities and directions for interpretation. For instance, the excessively slow, ponderous tempi that are seductive on instruments with a thicker, deeper bass and more sustain don’t work on historical pianos; one must create an equally expressive interpretation using different means and differently paced musical gestures.  

Do you have any advice for pianists who are interested in a career in historically informed performance?  

My main advice would be to research and play as many different keyboard instruments as possible; learn to speak their diverse languages. Historical performance is a field of musical “pioneers” willing to go out on an artistic limb for what they believe. I would say that one needs an insatiable curiosity and the desire to find your own answers to musical questions. 

Tell me about the instrument that you recorded A Voice in the Distance on, at the Banff Centre in Canada.  

The fortepiano used in this recording, built by Rodney Regier in 2014, is a replica of a typical Viennese fortepiano from the 1830’s built by Conrad Graf. He was arguably the most accomplished and well-known builder in Vienna at the time and his instruments typify the 19th century Viennese piano ideal, an instrument whose sound and dimensions composers of the time would have known well.  

There are variations in sound quality between the different registers of a fortepiano, such as a speaking or singing middle register; a thin, reedy upper register; and a lighter, clearer bass. The Viennese fortepiano also features a lighter and shallower action, rendering it very responsive and capable of nuances of sound and shaping. Nineteenth century fortepianos often featured a wider selection of pedals, tone-modifying devices that added extra colours and effects to the fundamental piano sound. This fortepiano features a damper pedal, an una corda pedal, and a third pedal known as the moderator. When this pedal is depressed, a piece of felt is inserted between the hammers and strings to sweetly mute the sound and create an intimate whisper in soft passages. Finally, playing this repertoire on the 6.5-octave range of the instrument (newly expanded from the 5.5- and 6-octave instruments that were common in the early decades of the 19th century) restores the excitement of the rhetorical gesture that utilizes the very lowest to the very highest notes of the keyboard. As a performer, you can once again feel the enthusiasm and excitement of musicians using the instruments to their limit. In this debut fortepiano recording of Schumann's Novellette in F-sharp minor, Op. 21 No. 8, one feels the drama of challenging these new instrumental possibilities with music that exploits its full capabilities. 

What significance does the album title, A Voice in the Distance, have? Why do you use the German title, Stimme aus der Ferne

The title of the album, “Stimme aus der Ferne - A Voice From the Distance” refers to an indication written in the score of the Novellette, by Robert Schumann. Amid a tumultuous and highly varied movement, the music suddenly becomes tender and intimate. The lyrical melody from the Notturno by Clara Schumann becomes the “voice from the distance” that Robert quotes, as though the beloved theme drifts into his mind as he is composing: a poetic illustration of the presence of Clara, in thought and in music. 

How did you choose the album’s repertoire?  

The repertoire on the album was carefully chosen to highlight the Banff fortepiano’s unique expressive capabilities. First of all, I chose lyrical music that I really love! I also wanted to showcase the music of a range of composers; each piece reveals how they used the sonority of the instrument in their own way. The pairing of the last two pieces by Clara and Robert Schumann was my way of highlighting their deep human and artistic connection.   

What textures does the fortepiano add to the album’s repertoire that you wouldn’t hear when playing the same pieces on a modern piano?  What differences or nuances do you hope the listener picks up on? 

The registration and sound of the fortepiano add a clarity to the repertoire and a distinct character to musical themes written in different parts of the keyboard. For instance, in Variations on a Theme by Rode, Czerny highlights the transparent, sparkling upper register of the instrument by writing extended passages of virtuosity and brilliance. There is also an increased range of softer dynamic levels when using the full range of pedals on the fortepiano. In the second movement of the Schubert sonata, I interchange passages using the soft una corda pedal and the even softer moderator to create an added layer of intimacy. I have also used this pedal to create an extra quiet and ethereal effect in moments of Schumann’s Papillons and Novellette.  

Tell me about the special connection between the final two pieces on the album – Robert Schumann’s Novellette and Clara Schumann’s Notturno

Although Clara Schumann herself downplayed or doubted her compositional gifts during her life, her musical themes are often present in Robert Schumann’s music, quoted and used as a springboard for his imagination. In the structure of Robert Schumann’s Novellette, Clara’s theme is the only melodic link between the two main sections of the piece. Her theme surfaces as a private reverie and then returns transformed at the triumphant climax. I believe these two pieces by Clara and Robert Schumann are linked for the first time on this recording and I wanted to highlight this artistic connection between the two musicians. This concept of creative synergy is very much reflected in the repertoire of this disc.