Conversation // Inside the Hearing Machine (360°)

Click and drag your way through this 360-degree video clip and use headphones to enjoy spatial audio. Pianist and artistic researcher Tom Beghin and acoustician Thomas Wulfrank discuss the particulars of a fascinating project to record Beethoven’s three last piano sonatas (Opus 109, 110, and 111) using a replica of Beethoven’s Broadwood (built by Chris Maene) and a reconstruction of Beethoven’s Gehörmaschine (or "hearing machine"). They explain how the deaf Beethoven could again hear but mostly feel his beloved piano, and why these insights matter for interpreting and listening to these three masterworks. This project is part of the research cluster, Declassifying the Classics, at Orpheus Instituut, Ghent (Belgium). PI: Tom Beghin. Collaborators: Martha de Francisco, Chris Maene, Steven Maes, Robin Wallace, Thomas Wulfrank. www.InsideTheHearingMachine.com