New design of piano?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Getting back to this piano - I'd really like to try one. (There probably is only one.)

[subcontrabass]

Getting back to this piano - I'd really like to try one. (There probably is only one.)

Apparently there are two.

[Bryn]

Apparently there are two.

So far.

[Sir Velo]

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


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

Perhaps, to quote the man himself: " Struck by the difference in sound he began to dream of a brand new piano which combined the evenness of touch, stability and power of a modern instrument with the “transparent sound quality and distinguishable colour registers” of Liszt’s 200-year-old piano.

[vinteuil]

... it's still not (yet) an instrument for which any composer has written music with these specific sonorities in mind. It's not as if it's a Streicher for Mozart, a Broadwood for Beethoven, a Pleyel for Chopin. Is it supposed to be an 'all purpose' hybrid?

I remain unpersuaded.

[David-G]

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.

The clarity here mentioned I think refers particularly to the bass. In modern pianos the bass tends to become a bit of a mush. I can't speak for the 1875 Erard, but on my 1881 Bluthner individual bass notes have an incisive clarity which means that bass lines can be readily distinguished from the different-sounding treble sitting above. This certainly sounds wonderful in Schubert. I look forward to discovering this evening whether the new piano has a similar quality.

[David-G]

... it's still not (yet) an instrument for which any composer has written music with these specific sonorities in mind. It's not as if it's a Streicher for Mozart, a Broadwood for Beethoven, a Pleyel for Chopin. Is it supposed to be an 'all purpose' hybrid?

I remain unpersuaded.

Is it supposed to be an 'all purpose' hybrid? Maybe so, but no more so than a modern concert grand. A Graf is supreme for Schubert, but it would hardly fill the Festival Hall. (I had the privilege of playing one at Finchcocks recently.) I feel that a modern straight-strung design is a most interesting innovation for the modern concert hall. The persuasion will hopefully be in the performance. I look forward to hearing if it sounds as wonderful as I think it might.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I look forward to hearing if it sounds as wonderful as I think it might.

[Lento]

A slight tangent, but I think I've heard it said that "modern" pianos can vary in the degree of characterisation of the registers, some being more monochrome than others. How much of this would be due to the manufacturer, and how much due to the regulating/toning of the individual instrument, I've no idea.

Barenboim has mentioned the issue of adjustment to his new instrument, and is reported to have said it took him ten days, initially.