Maybe there is a legitimate reason Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth spent almost a tenth of a million dollars on a Steinway grand piano for the residence of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. I’m told that the piano belongs to the residence of the Air Force Chief of Staff, and not to General Kenneth Wilsbach personally.
Which would mean that if General Wilsbach was reassigned or retired, he would not get to take that piano to his next residence, it would stay at the chief of staff residence for his successor. The piano could be used for some important mission-critical purpose, such as maybe that Wilsbach and the other Joint Chiefs of Staff have to entertain foreign dignitaries. Having a high end piano already at the residence would probably be more cost effective than renting it ad hoc each time.
It would also streamline the transport of musical instruments to and from the residence. For example, the Air Force Band could send a pianist, a saxophonist, a bassist and a drummer to the residence, and the pianist would not have to transport an instrument, as there would be an instrument there ready for him or her.
A.I.-generated image of Pete Hegseth enjoying a grand piano, various foods and electronic devices in a residence furnished by taxpayer dollars. Gov. Newsom (D-California) posted this image on his Twitter account
I think I’ve seen the exact cost of the Steinway piano quoted somewhere. It’s at least $98,000, but less than $99,000. They could have gotten a Pearl River piano for less than $25,000. I’m not sure if that price is jacked up by Trump’s idiotic tariffs. Because, you see, Pearl River pianos are made in China, whereas Steinway pianos are made in New York.
Steinway is an American company founded by German immigrants, who helped popularize Beethoven’s music in America. Beethoven himself used a Broadwood piano, imported from England, for his last five piano sonatas, though he was probably completely deaf at that point.
According to composer Alfredo Casella, who edited Beethoven’s sonatas with opus numbers for Ricordi, Beethoven misjudged certain effects in his late piano sonatas. In footnotes for Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat major, Opus 110, for example, Casella offers suggestions for achieving the effect he thinks Beethoven intended but could not verify with his own ears.
The first four bars feel like an introduction. It’s very friendly, relaxed music.
There’s no tempo change at the fifth bar, but with the persistent sixteenth notes (semiquavers) for the left hand, the listener might think there has indeed been a tempo change.
With a switch to F minor, Beethoven writes subtly heroic music.
The Adagio is a little anguished.
Though wholly his own, the concluding 3-voice fugue does at times remind us that Beethoven had studied the music of Johann Sebastian Bach quite thoroughly.
When I started this open thread series, I mentioned I purchased an MP3 album of Artur Schnabel playing most of Beethoven’s piano sonatas. Don’t remember if that cost me 99¢ or $1.29. It was a very good price, but for whatever reason it didn’t include this Opus 110 sonata.
I also bought one with Bruce Hungerford for most of the sonatas, and it did include this one. I think Schnabel is a better pianist, but the sound quality on the Hungerford is better.
For this open thread, I wanted to embed Hélène Grimaud’s performance, but YouTube wouldn’t let me. So I’m going with Jonathan Biss instead for the embed.
In addition to being a brilliant pianist, Hélène Grimaud is also an advocate for the conservation of wolves. She established the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, New York. She has a page on her website about that, including a cute picture of her with a wolf puppy.
And now Eric Zivian on fortepiano.
