Handmade by Royal Appointment - Steinway & Sons BBC 4

[Keraulophone]

Looks interesting, and on imminently...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07ht061?ns_mchannel=email&ns_source=inxmail_newsletter&ns_campaign=bbc4_week26&ns_linkname=2content_object_right&ns_fee=0

'Travelling between the factory in Hamburg, where Steinway pianos are still made largely by hand, and Steinway Hall in London, where a team of technicians maintain and restore the pianos, this film offers a portrait of the craftsmen behind the famous instrument.'

(...though I've just acquired a Bösendorfer!)

[Bryn]

Looks interesting, and on imminently...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07ht061?ns_mchannel=email&ns_source=inxmail_newsletter&ns_campaign=bbc4_week26&ns_linkname=2content_object_right&ns_fee=0

'Travelling between the factory in Hamburg, where Steinway pianos are still made largely by hand, and Steinway Hall in London, where a team of technicians maintain and restore the pianos, this film offers a portrait of the craftsmen behind the famous instrument.'

(...though I've just acquired a Bösendorfer!)

Which model? Probably the better choice anyway, what?

[Keraulophone]

I had fallen in love with an ex-Tonbridge School 225 after they went all-Steinway, but could only realistically accommodate a 170 in my space, and have been searching for one at a reasonable price for a few years. It sings more beautifully than any other equivalent piano I have played, and remarkably so in the bass.

The Steinway programme was rather disappointing; the previous one in the series on John Lobb the bootmaker of St James's (£4000 for your first pair), I found far more engaging. I was hoping for more technical depth, but they couldn't be expected to cover much in thirty minutes. As for Lang Klang at the end - what repellant piano playing (IMO)!

[ardcarp]

Handmade - by Royal Appointment

BBC4 featured Steinway and Sons.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07ht061

It was a most enjoyable short programme...AND there was no idiotic presenter prancing to camera, just a calm voice-over. Why can't we have more documentaries made like this?

Oops, sorry. Just realised Keraulophone has already started a thread.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Which model? Probably the better choice anyway, what?

Only for the extra notes for playing Busoni and Dohnanyi.

[Keraulophone]

No extras on a 170; but those on a 225 (to bottom F), Imperial (97 notes), et al, even if ignored, provide a larger soundboard to the benefit of the conventional 88 notes.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'm going to watch this programme to cheer myself up after the England game.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'm going to watch this programme to cheer myself up after the England game.

Lost 52-48.

[Sir Velo]

It was a most enjoyable short programme...AND there was no idiotic presenter prancing to camera, just a calm voice-over. Why can't we have more documentaries made like this?

I rather thought we were getting more programmes like this - slow TV is the generic name I believe.

There was the recent related series, the enthralling Handmade on the silk road; last winter's reindeer postal service in Lapland; numerous programmes on canals and railways; and others no doubt which I have either missed or fallen asleep during.

[BBMmk2]

We have a wonderful Steinway at work, in The Recital Room. I've played it, and indeed it is!! :)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I thought it was a well constructed programme, though within the time slot, perhaps it could have been even more informative.

The presentation was spot on. Radio 3, take note.

[oddoneout]

I enjoyed it but didn't feel it was as good as the others in the series which followed through from beginning stages to finished item much better. I don't think that was entirely due to a Steinway having a few thousand more component parts than a vase or pair of shoes, but perhaps an extra 5 or 10 minutes and better reassembling of the clips to give a more logical narrative of the construction process would have helped. And yes I think a different 'famous pianist' would have been preferable. The young lad playing in the London showroom seemed much more in keeping with the tone of the programme.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

And yes I think a different 'famous pianist' would have been preferable. The young lad playing in the London showroom seemed much more in keeping with the tone of the programme.

The young man at Steinway Hall was indeed fine pianist, but I do wonder why so many people like to knock Lang Lang off his pedestal.

[mercia]

I would like to have known what the technician working on LL's piano at the Albert Hall did when LL remarked that the piano sounded "dry" from Middle C upwards. He assured LL that he could do something about it - what would that have been I wonder ?

[Nick Armstrong]

I would like to have known what the technician working on LL's piano at the Albert Hall did when LL remarked that the piano sounded "dry" from Middle C upwards. He assured LL that he could do something about it - what would that have been I wonder ?

"Toning" ... things like pin pricks in the hammer felt to soften it, so the sound gains bloom, etc etc... Piano toning is as much an art as piano tuning, I think...

Because I've arranged the pages to see last posts at the top of page 1, I read your post before previous ones. I assumed "LL" was Louis Lortie... only to be disappointed shortly after (he said, trying to knock Lang² off his pedestal, Alpie )