Behind the scenes

A few years ago pianomaker Chris Maene came up with the idea of recreating Beethoven’s 1818 Broadwood and also attempting to copy the resonator built for it by the Viennese maker Matthäus Andreas (André) Stein.

Musicologist Tilman Skowroneck’s study of the conversation books Beethoven’s peers used to communicate with him revealed more information about the device than was previously known. Acoustician Thomas Wolfrank designed a series of working models that approximated the sound environment in which Beethoven composed his late works.

Pianist Tom Beghin then recorded the last three Beethoven piano sonatas on the instrument, with a carefully calibrated recording set-up (Inside the Hearing Machine, Evil Penguin EPRC0025).