Rosen and Dubal on Horowitz

When I wrote about "technical progress" I was referring to the period 1970- and I ment the average technical standard. In the 70's it was possible to make a living conserting/recording with a pretty mediocre technique and the average standard in competitions were lower compared to the present.Today you see pianists in amateur competitions with far better technique than some proffessionals had in the 1970's. Now if we are debating the standard of the biggest names we will never know for sure how the maestro's really played in the 19th century. I think the old stubborn rumour that the 19th century performers had a far better technique was related to a period at the beginning of the 20the century when egocentric manneierism and odd interpretations became à la mode. Which gave the opportunity to pianists with less technical skills (like Paderewsky).There are some interesting recordings with Planté at 90 y old and I think that gives support to the rumours about superior technique. One important element is that the grand piano is very different today. I wouldn't say it's easier to play on an Erard or Pleyel but it is different. Lhevinnes instructions makes sense on an Erard the sustain is far shorter than on a modern grand so keybedding with eveness in a very fast tempo makes sense. Lhevinne never liked the modern grands and he was not alone. I practised a lot on an Erard in my youth and I clearly see Lhevinnes point. Maybe, this is pure speculation, Horowitz wanted to reproduce the effects he could get on an old piano and therefor developped a technique that did just that? Because much of his effects like eg accentuating a basekey to profit from a larger sustain, scratching to get clarity.And his levelling down of everything the action hammers and the framepressure points to this

By "keybedding", are you referring to playing to the bottom of the keys? It's my understanding that it is desirable for pianists to always play to the bottom of the keys, as otherwise their sound would have no resonance or carrying power.

There's a way of playing on the escapements where you don't go to the bottom but just as far as the letoff. It's an interesting technique. The key actually still goes to the bottom but you don't clamp it down there into the keybed... AFF

I'm presuming you would have to hit the key with sufficient energy (perhaps a solid finger stroke) to have it go all the way down without the finger itself going down.

The finger itself might even go down - but you don't get the same compression into the keybed and you get a different feel of control. AFF