UNC Chapel Hill owns two marvelous fortepianos; One of them is an original 1843 Pleyel, the other a Graf copy made by Rodney Regier in the 1990’s. In June 2021, Nicholas and Mimi Solomon made three live recordings using these instruments along with period violin bows (Ralph Ashmead & J.J Martin workshop). These three recordings are the first installment in a larger project dedicated to the music of composers of underrepresented groups in classical music. Additionally, by exploring the music of Clara Schumann, Pauline Viardot, and Teresa Carreño with these beautiful instruments, Nicholas and Mimi are discovering new forms of expressivity through sound color, timing, and “expressive asynchrony” which are much less possible using modern instruments.
