New design of piano?

[subcontrabass]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-32885683

[vinteuil]

... a 'radical' piano in that it goes back to the roots : straight (parallel) strung rather than over (crossed) strung.

But why not just replicate the earlier pianos - which Barenboim himself noted had qualities lacking in the modern version.

There are now many good makers producing replicas of all sorts of pianos ; there are not a few decent original instruments too...

Not quite sure what this 'new' piano will add - neither one thing nor the other?

[Tony Halstead]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-32885683

Why go to all that trouble (and expense) when he could just play a Graf or a Nanette Streicher?

[vinteuil]

Why go to all that trouble (and expense) when he could just play a Graf or a Nanette Streicher?

... or an Erard - Pleyel - Broadwood - Franz Brodmann

[Flosshilde]

But why not just replicate the earlier pianos

Possibly because they don't have the "power, looks, evenness of touch, stability of tuning and other technical advantages of the modern piano." which Barenboim presumably wants?

[MrGongGong]

Pianist Gwendolyn Mok, who plays an 1875 straight-strung Erard piano, has said that such instruments possess superior clarity.
"If you look inside your own piano, you will notice that the strings are all crossing each other," she told the San Francisco Examiner in 2013.
"With the straight strung piano you get distinct registral differences - almost like listening to a choir where you have the bass, tenor, alto, and soprano voices.
"It is very clear and there is no blending or homogenizing of the sound. It therefore gives you huge opportunities in experimenting with colour."

Said someone who hasn't looked inside a piano

"the strings are all crossing each other" really ??? why not have a look and see if they are ALL crossing each other?

Why are people who talk out of their arses allowed to have their pronouncements published?

and WTF does this mean?

"It is very clear and there is no blending or homogenizing of the sound"

No it isn't 'very clear' at all

(unlike the sky at the moment as I go over the Tay bridge)

I'm sure this is a wonderful instrument and will be wonderfully played BUT why the guff?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Said someone who hasn't looked inside a piano

"the strings are all crossing each other" really ??? why not have a look and see if they are ALL crossing each other?

Why are people who talk out of their arses allowed to have their pronouncements published?

and WTF does this mean?

"It is very clear and there is no blending or homogenizing of the sound"

No it isn't 'very clear' at all

(unlike the sky at the moment as I go over the Tay bridge)

I'm sure this is a wonderful instrument and will be wonderfully played BUT why the guff?

MrGG, you know exactly what the writer is trying to say. Don't be mean.

[MrGongGong]

MrGG, you know exactly what the writer is trying to say. Don't be mean.

I'm not always the most articulate of men
and, unlike some, can't afford an expensive piano
BUT this is GUFF (politely)

2:2 borderline fail IMV

She said that the strings all cross each other
they don't
SOME do

I wonder if she is a member of UKIP ?

(the North East of Scotland is rather beautiful don't you think dram)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Why go to all that trouble (and expense) when he could just play a Graf or a Nanette Streicher?

Burn me at the stake, if you like, but I think listening to those early pianos is akin to being punished. This piano attempts to use some of the old methods with the huge benefit of modern developments.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

"Pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim has unveiled a new type of piano, which he says is "radically different" to the standard concert grand."

DIFFERENT FROM...

[MrGongGong]

Burn me at the stake, if you like, but I think listening to those early pianos is akin to being punished. This piano attempts to use some of the old methods with the huge benefit of modern developments.

I think you should declare your interest



(I bet YOU don't have ALPIE in gold letters on yours )

[David-G]

The web page of the designer Chris Maene on the new instrument: http://www.chrismaene.be/en/news/chr...ert_grand.aspx

[David-G]

Said someone who hasn't looked inside a piano

"the strings are all crossing each other" really ??? why not have a look and see if they are ALL crossing each other?

Why are people who talk out of their arses allowed to have their pronouncements published?

and WTF does this mean?

"It is very clear and there is no blending or homogenizing of the sound"

No it isn't 'very clear' at all

(unlike the sky at the moment as I go over the Tay bridge)

I'm sure this is a wonderful instrument and will be wonderfully played BUT why the guff?

Apart from her unfortunate choice of wording regarding the strings, Gwendolyn Mok is perfectly correct. I have a Broadwood square of 1804 and a Bluthner grand of 1881 (in which the bass is almost straight-strung), and so I know this from personal experience. The instruments are very clear, and Ms Mok's summary seems pretty clear too.

[vinteuil]

"Pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim has unveiled a new type of piano, which he says is "radically different" to the standard concert grand."

DIFFERENT FROM...

"That different can only be followed by from and not by to is a SUPERSTITION. Not only is to 'found in writers of all ages' (OED); the principle on which it is rejected involves a hasty and ill-defined generalization. ... The fact is that the objections to different to, like those to averse to, sympathy for, & compare to, are mere pedantries. This does not imply that different from is wrong; on the contrary, it is 'now usual' (OED); but it is only so owing to the dead set made against different to by mistaken critics."

Modern English Usage [1926]

[MrGongGong]

Apart from her unfortunate choice of wording regarding the strings, Gwendolyn Mok is perfectly correct. I have a Broadwood square of 1804 and a Bluthner grand of 1881 (in which the bass is almost straight-strung), and so I know this from personal experience. The instruments are very clear, and Ms Mok's summary seems pretty clear too.

I don't think it's clear at all.
I know what she means but "very clear" is not a good description of acoustical phenomena.