The K?ln Concert addendum

A personal view

While doing the research for this article, several questions started to appear in my mind. When I was younger, I tried to learn to play guitar, but after a couple of years spent trying to change from F to any other chord without suffering muscular trauma in my hands, I decided to quit. I am a listener not a player. Since that moment I have always seen musicians with a mix of admiration and envy, a sort of different kind of human being that can express themselves through a language I could not fully grasp.

Therefore, it occurred to me that I should try to learn a bit more about music and musicianship to make this story a bit more personal. And by learning a few more things about music, it could be easier to describe the uniqueness of Jarrett’s performance and the dimension of the difficulties that he had to face during the concert.

About pianos

The instrument that Keith Jarrett preferred to play is known as the concert grand piano. Pianos are a relatively modern invention. So new that we actually know who invented it, where and why, and that cannot be said for other musical instruments.

The piano was invented by an Italian luthier and musician called Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655–1731).

Cristofori lived in the city of Padua, Italy, and worked as the court's Keeper of the Instruments. This position involved the maintenance and repair of the instruments used by the musicians that played in the court of Ferdinando de Medici, who was the Grand Duke of Tuscany at that time (Granduchi di Toscana in Italian).

The Grand Duchy of Tuscany

Cosimo de Medici (1519 - 1574) created the Grand Duchy of Tuscany (Granducato di Toscana) in 1569 after conquering the Republic of Florence, in one of the final battles that were fought during the Italian wars of the XVI century. The Italian wars comprehend a complex sixty-five-year long conflict between France and the alliance of the Holy Roman Empire and Spain. Cosimo selected Florence as the Duchy’s capital, after defeating the Republic of Florence, which had existed since 1115.

After Cosimo’s death he was succeeded by his oldest son Francesco (1574 - 1587), who showed little interest in ruling and a great interest in performing scientific experiments. Francesco I died in 1587, and the Duchy’s throne was inherited by his younger brother Ferdinando (1587 - 1609).

Ferdinando I was a generous monarch that cared for his subjects. Under his rule Florence became a rich city, with a growing economy helped by Florentine banks and their related financial activity. The Duchy’s capital became a center of intense cultural activity and is recognized as the cradle of the Renaissance. The Medici’s favored a tolerant society, open to all religions and ethnicities. Numerous presses were created which published a wide range of books including Arabian written texts, which were the cultural remnants of the Islamic Golden Age (Eighth century to 13th century). The first examples of Italian Opera appeared at this time.

Ferdinando’s heir was his son Cosimo II (1590 - 1621), who shared Francesco’s interest in science as well as his limited interest in politics. He was a Patron of artists and scientists, being the most famous of his protegees a Paduan astronomer called Galileo Galilei.

Cosimo II's successor was his son Ferdinando II (1610 - 1670) who also was more interested in science and left government affairs to the nobles and politicians. The slow decline in Florence’s wealth started with him.

A dynasty thorn between Arts and Politics

His son Cosimo III (1642 - 1723) inherited the Duchy and ruled for 53 years, which were both the peak of Florentine culture and the beginning of a continuous deterioration of the Duchy’s economy. Cosimo III had three sons, being the eldest Ferdinando who, once again, was more interested in the patronage of arts and sciences.

He was especially interested in music and became a talented harpsichord player, as well as a gifted singer. He also was a capable player of string instruments, learned the composition technique of counterpoint (“contrappunto”), and had the ability to perform a piece of music after a single sight of the partiture. Thanks to these abilities he became intimate with the Scarlatti brothers and other Baroque composers, including George Frideric Handel. This Ferdinando was Bartolomeo Cristofori’s employer.

During the Medici’s reign, music experienced a surge in complexity which was reflected in new musical forms, styles, and instruments. It was the period commonly known as the Baroque era.

Baroque keyboards

Cristofori was an expert on stringed and keyboard instruments. In those years there were two types of stringed keyboard musical instruments: the clavichord and the harpsichord.

The clavichord works in the following way: when you press a key, the pressure is transferred through a lever to a tangent, which is a small metallic piece that hits a copper string, thus producing the sound.

Clavichords are small, personal, and portable instruments. They are designed to play at a low level or volume and allow builders to assign a string to various keys. Since only one note can be played at a time on each string, clavichords share strings only between notes that rarely are played together. Clavichords have between 40 to 60 keys.

The limitations of clavichords were addressed by the invention of the harpsichord.

In a harpsichord, the pressing of the keys is not translated into a hit to the strings with a tangent. Instead, they have a mechanism that plucks the strings like the fingers do in a guitar. The sound produced is similar to the sound of a harp. That is the reason for the name of this instrument.

This feature works in combination with the use of a wooden resonance box, which also works as the housing, produces a louder and more powerful sound. Additionally, harpsichords use a soundboard: a piece of wood against which the strings are tensioned. Hence, the soundboard works as a resonant surface for the strings and can amplify their sound just like a loudspeaker. Harpsichords have between 54 and 61 keys.

The invention of the piano

Cristofori was an expert harpsichord builder, and over time developed the idea of using a little soft hammer to hit the strings instead of plucking them. By graduating the strength of the pressure applied to the keys, it is possible to produce sounds that can be either strong or low in volume.

The resulting harpsichord with hammers was named as “a cimbalo di cipresso di piano e forte,” or a keyboard of cypress with soft and loud.

Later, the name was modified to “clavicembalo col piano e forte,” or key harpsichord with soft and loud. This denomination was further simplified later as pianoforte and finally piano. But in German, the instrument is still called “Hammerflügel”, a word that can be translated as pianoforte.

Piano is an Italian word that means soft. Therefore, a piano is an instrument that can play either soft and strong (piano and forte) sounds.

Modern pianos

Modern pianos appeared in the middle of the nineteenth century and became one of the most versatile and flexible musical instruments available.

Among various refinements, the one that had the most importance was the use of a metallic plate or frame that supports both the soundboard and the strings.

To make a piano sound louder and with more volume, the strings must be tensioned with a high force. This force is resisted by the piano’s housing and frame. Therefore, since the traditional piano’s frame is made of wood, there is a maximum value of torque that can be applied to it and if surpassed, the wood frame will break violently.

To address this issue, the US based Steinway company developed a piano with a metal frame. In the Steinway design, the strings and the soundboard are attached to the metal frame, which can withstand a lot more tension than wood.

A grand piano (more about this later) has around 220 strings that are tensioned against the metal plate with a force of around 75 kg per string. That means a total accumulated pressure of about 16.000 kg or 16 metric tons. That enormous potential energy is the reason pianos must be transported with extreme care, because in the event of a fall that energy can be liberated suddenly with the force of a small explosion.

Finally, pianos have pedals which can provide various effects, being the most frequent one known as sustain. When a key is pressed the hammer hits the string, when is depressed a damper hits the string cancelling its vibration and therefore its sound. If the sustain pedal is pressed it disengages the string dampers, thus allowing strings to keep vibrating or sustaining their sound.

Types of pianos

Upright pianos. Also called vertical pianos, these are designed with vertical strings and horizontal hammers. They are designed to be used in closed spaces, like homes or small stages. They cannot deliver high volume because the strings compartment is small, so they have a limited resonance box.

Grand pianos feature horizontal strings and vertical hammers, so they are quite large in comparison. They are usually named according to their size, the larger the piano the bigger their resonance chamber and the louder they sound:

B?sendorfer pianos

B?sendorfer (L. B?sendorfer Klavierfabrick GmbH) is an Austrian company that started building pianos in 1828. Founded by Ignaz B?sendorfer (1796 - 1859), the company rapidly became a supplier of high-quality concert grand pianos. They were preferred by some of the best music performers of all time, starting with Franz Liszt. Other notable players are Arthur Rubinstein and Leonard Bernstein. Famous Jazz pianists that endorsed the brand include names such as Oscar Peterson, Joe Zawinul, and of course Keith Jarrett. B?sendorfers are also favored by popular musicians such as Tori Amos, Billy Joel and Peter Gabriel.

B?sendorfer pianos are built with an extended keyboard of ninety-seven keys.

The traditional western musical scale employs seven notes plus five semitones, or twelve keys per octave. Pianos were designed to play a range of 71/4 octaves which are covered by using eighty-eight keys. B?sendorfer pianos offer nine additional keys in the lowest bass segment and are used by capable performers able to employ them to resonate with other keys, thus providing a richer and fuller sound.

Piano tuning

Like any musical instrument, to sound right pianos must be in tune.

To be in tune means that each key must produce a specific musical note of the musical scale.

Since the western musical scale has twelve notes, with its eighty-eight keys a piano can cover seven and ? scales, each one with a higher pitch.

After a sequence of twelve notes, the scale is repeated at a high frequency or pitch that is exactly double that of the first one. Each set of twelve notes is known as an octave. The octave of the fourth group of keys located in the middle of the keyboard (commonly known as C4) features an A key that should produce the note A with a frequency of 440 Hz.

This key es taken as a reference for the tuning. This method is known as theoretical tuning. Actual pianos differ from the theoretical model therefore must be tuned individually.

Since each note is generated by a set of more than one string, to tune a piano it is necessary to adjust the tension of 220 strings. That is not a simple task, it demands a specialist.

This is a simplified explanation of the tuning process; it does not include additional concepts like temperament and other details.

A tuned piano can lose its tuning after intense use or after time. This is the reason performers demand a tuned piano to play. The recommended practice is to tune a piano twice a year and before every time a serious session is going to be played.

Additionally, changes in ambient pressure and/or temperature can affect its tuning. Vibration can also produce unexpected results thus pianos are rarely moved from one place to another and, since Grand Pianos can weigh more than 500 kg, they are difficult to move anyway.

Finally, as anything made with superb quality, B?sendorfer pianos are handmade. Less than 300 units are built per year and the delivery time is 15 months. And prepare to pay a base price of 250000 USD for an entry level Grand Piano. Options and customizations can drive the price well above 600000 USD.

Online content

It is really difficult to write about music and I think that most attempts simply fail. For this reason, I am including a link to Keith Jarrett’s K?ln Concert on Spotify. Follow it and listen to Jarrett’s masterpiece whenever you may have an hour to spare.

https://open.spotify.com/intl-es/album/0I8vpSE1bSmysN2PhmHoQg?si=9tMqKBEASZCOAD5vSdFztw

If you want to hear how a damaged and out of tune B?sendorfer baby piano sounds like, you can listen to Keith Jarrett’s K?ln Concert using the previous link.

And if you want to know how it differs from a tuned and well maintained B?sendorfer 290 Imperial concert grand piano you can listen to Keith Jarrett's Solo concerts: Bremen/Lausanne, which were recorded a few days before the K?ln event.

https://open.spotify.com/intl-es/album/2CMCLp7kOI8Be6rPaYyHeZ?si=GjCPZ8ZaS3qt13o6TjNRDg

The 50th anniversary

While writing this article I realized that next year is the 50th anniversary of the K?ln Concert. So, you may want to know what happened with Keith Jarrett’s life and career.

Well, he is 80-year-old now, and had a stupendous musical career, which includes more than one hundred albums. He has played in many different musical styles, from jazz to classical music, standards and some experimental oddities including a few records featuring him as an orchestra director.

Sadly, he suffered two consecutive strokes in 2018 that left him with his left side paralyzed and has not been able to perform again.

A perfect metaphor

For me, he is still that temperamental young rising star that defied destiny by creating a musical masterpiece with a broken instrument. And that is a perfect metaphor for the process of ageing that we all will eventually go through. Let’s hope we will be able to cope with that process with our tired, out of tune- and beaten-up bodies.

Mirko Torrez Contreras is a Process Automation consultant and trainer. He has been fascinated by music since he was a kid. After two years trying to learn to play the guitar, he found out that he has the opposite of perfect pitch. That means that he will always fail at trying to identify a musical note or reproduce it after listening. To have perfect pitch is an invaluable a rare asset for anybody interested in music.

To have absolutely imperfect pitch is a useless asset for anybody. But this ability is even less common than perfect pitch. So, he finds some satisfaction in the fact that even with his absolute imperfect pitch, somehow he is still able to enjoy good music.

This article has been sponsored by Phoenix Contact. The opinions exposed in this article are strictly personal. All the information required for and used in this article series is in the public domain.