Fantasies for Fortepiano

This CD is an exploration of piano fantasies by Mozart, Beethoven and others, performed on a fortepiano, so that it is possible to hear the music as it may have sounded to the composers themselves. Monica Jakuc has specialized for years in this music and these period instruments, and renders fine, authentic and extraordinarily musical performances. This recording is a very special treat for lovers of classical piano music. About the Artist Monica Jakuc (pronounced Ya-kutch) is the Elsie Irwin Sweeney Professor of Music at Smith College, where she has taught since 1969. New York audiences first heard Ms. Jakuc at Alice Tully Hall in 1980 in 'A Program of Twentieth-Century Music for Two Pianos' with colleague Kenneth Fearn. Her performance of Bach's 'Goldberg' Variations at Merkin Hall was hailed by The New York Times as 'an auspicious debut...one will observe Ms. Jakuc's career with more than usual interest.' Her 1988 London debut included the premier of a piece written for her by Ronald Perera. She has toured Japan and Alaska and appears often on both U.S. coasts. Ms. Jakuc also delivers lecture-recitals on women composers and has been a featured artist at International Association of Women in Music concerts in London and Washington, D.C. Inspired by Malcolm Bilson, Ms. Jakuc has performed on early pianos since 1986. She is a frequent guest artist at the E.M. Frederick Collection in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, and was an organizer and performer at the international HaydnFest 1990, co-sponsored by Smith and the Westfield Center for Early Keyboard Studies. She is a frequent guest performer with Arcadia Players, Pioneer Valley's early music ensemble, and often features her 6 1/2 -octave Paul McNulty Graf replica in Schubert concerts. Ms. Jakuc's discography includes fortepiano sonatas by Marianne von Martinez, Marianna von Auenbrugger, and Joseph Haydn on Titanic Records, and Francesca LeBrun's complete Opus 1 Sonatas for fortepiano and violin, with Dana Maiben, on Dorian Discovery. Born in Newark, New Jersey, Ms. Jakuc received B.S. and M.S. degrees from Juilliard, where she studied with James Friskin and Beveridge Webster. She has also worked with Leon Fleisher, Russell Sherman, and Konrad Wolff, a pupil of Artur Schnabel. About the Fortepiano The fortepiano used in this recording, made in the year 2000 for Smith College is a 5 1/2 octave (FF - c'''') instrument made by Paul McNulty after the design of Walter & Sohn of Vienna. It is mahogany with brass trim, and features moderator and sustaining knee levers, the equivalent of pedals on the modern piano. The moderator inserts a piece of cloth between the hammer and the strings, thereby softening and mellowing the sound. The sustaining knee lever is the equivalent to the damper (right) pedal on the modern piano. Paul McNulty, an American living in Divisov, Czech Republic, is one of the most highly respected builders working today. The first pianos, made by Bartolomeo Cristofori about 300 years ago, were named pianoforte or fortepiano (soft-loud or loud-soft) because, unlike the harpsichord, they could play both soft and loud, with the dynamic controlled by the player's touch. The only other keyboard instrument, with such touch control was the clavichord, whose overall sound was considered too soft for use in concert. Contemporary usage has ironically shortened the modern instrument's name to quot;piano,quot; and in the past twenty years the term quot;fortepianoquot; has come to signify historical pianos, o