Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Pianist Michael Costello will showcase the works of Frederic Chopin and Wolfgang Mozart for the Nov. 23 edition of Live at the Museum, starting at 7 p.m. at the Lennox and Addington Museum and Archives.
He’ll start the night with samples from Mozart’s catalogue and follow that up in the second half with Chopin, who was known to have a great love for Mozart’s work and was heavily influenced by the Austrian composer.
“The interesting thing is they both had favourite pianos,” said Costello. “Mozart acquired a piano in 1786, a Walter Pianoforte. That was when he was doing quite well in his concerts. Chopin had a particularly favourite piano as well which was the Pleyel piano, made in Paris.”
Both instruments would have sounded very unique. Using the latest technology, Costello will play the classical pieces as they were intended, using computer software to mimic the instruments the composers worked with when writing their symphonies.
“I’m actually playing on a piano controller, which doesn’t have any sound coming out of it at all actually,” explains Costello. “You have to hook it up into a computer and then the computer feeds into an external amp. I have a software program called Pianoteq and on this program are many different samples of Pianofortes, harps and chords. So on the first part I’m going to be playing as a 1790 Walter Pianoforte. In the Chopin part I will be playing an 1835 Pleyel sample.”
The software is so precise it even includes the buzzing sound associated with a Pianoforte, a result of their light construction with no iron frame.
“I’ll be talking a little bit about the two different pianos from the different eras as well,” adds Costello. “It really puts it into perspective. These instruments changed year to year. An 1835 Pleyel would sound a little different than an 1840 Pleyel.”
Costello has a bachelor’s degree in music and education from Queen’s University and has taught at both elementary and high school levels as well as privately for over 20 years. He’s played an assortment of venues from concert halls to town halls.
Tickets for his Nov. 23 performance are $3 and will be sold at the L&A County Museum and Archives door.