stamaty's piano technique was firmly rooted in the pre-steinway area of those pianos built according to the old system (wooden frame). marmontel clearly states that stamaty was a "pianist of style but was no transcendental virtuoso" and that his playing lacked "warmth, colour and brilliance." stamaty's method prescribed complete immobility of body and arms, elbows tucked into the body and all action of the muscles limited to finger and forearms. saint-saëns who during his long life had witnessed the development from the old purely digital technique to the transcendental virtuosity of franz liszt, anton rubinstein and even leopold godowsky sums up the advantages and the drawbacks of the kalkbrenner-stamaty school like this: