Piano Guy

I’m in Charleston SC right now (really great city!) and just heard Valentina Lisitsa play the Tchaikovsky 1 with the Warsaw Philharmonic. Valentina is a big Bosendorfer fan, and the feeling is mutual. But our bank of concert pianos can’t completely keep up with the vast range of her performances, and we don’t have a piano near Charleston.

So, imagine my surprise to see a shiny Yamaha CFIIIS on the stage. I’m rather partial to the CFIIIS, having managed the Yamaha US Artist Relations program for 10 years. Oh, and I also own one. I believe that the world needs more than one concert piano and Yamaha has worked very very hard to give the world one, with the resources to put it out where people can see (hear) it. You could call the world of concert pianos a zero sum game (any win for one is a loss for the others).  However, when faced with a monopoly, the game is somewhat different. If any instrument can fight it’s way onto the concert stage in a consistent and satisfying manner, then that instrument is good for all the ones fighting the same fight. The monopoly’s domain is slightly smaller and someone else has planted a stake.

This particular Yamaha was extremely satisfying. Plenty of power (remember, it’s Tchaik 1) with extraordinary tone and sustain in the soft lyrical parts. Yet, still with a sound of its own. Really nice piano…oh, and played by somebody pretty extraordinary herself!!

June…November…not so bad, right? Of course, a lot has happened during this period, but some things can’t really be talked about…strategy, plans, that sort of thing.

Here are a couple of items:

North American Dealers meeting in Las Vegas in August

International Dealers Meeting in Vienna in September

Bottom dropping out of the economy in October..

Bosendorfer Piano channel on YouTube

(www.youtube.com/bosendorferpianos)

Finally I have a place for a lot of the video I’ve been shooting.

Spent a quick 4 days in Vienna in May. Of course, the week before I was there and the day I left were beautiful but while I was there, it was AGAIN WITH THE CRUDDY EUROPEAN WEATHER!!

I took my new very fancy HD video camera and spent the Sunday of arrival finding Ludwig Bosendorfers grave in the Central Cemetery. It’s quite humble, away from any of the big-shot sections.

Michael Nissen of Bosendorfer, the current keeper of history there, tells me that that is how it was specified in Bosendorfers will. In fact, the story goes, he wanted only his first name LUDWIG.

It’s a little frustrating because Carl Schweighofer has a dramatic site, as does the Streicher family. And how often do we hear about either one of those pianos today,eh?

I turned comments back off. The spam load was amazing and just not worth the trouble. Send me an email if you think I should turn comments back on, but, frankly, I may not be crazy about what people have to say…

And the 3rd unique feature, in my opinion, is the 4th unison string in the treble. This string is raised above the level of the other 3, so the hammer does not strike it. It’s purpose is to vibrate sympathetically, contributing to the unique Bluthner tone.

It even has it’s own little damper.

Why am I such a Bosendorfer geek?

In a nutshell, everything I know about high end pianos I learned from Bosendorfer. Seeing my first Imperial at the University of Wisconsin/Madison at the ripe age of 20 set me on my path. From then on, there was nothing so dramatic, spectacular and, well, downright sexy as that piano. The extra keys, the shape of the rim, the construction detail, the sound, there was nothing like it, especially not the Steinway D’s scattered about the building.

Later, to my utter amazement, I got the chance to work there. I was trained at the factory, did concert service throughout the US, and became the first US Service manager.

yes, I are a technician

…can you identify the world famous pianist on the right?

Then, again later, after a stint with a major East coast Steinway dealer and 12 years at Yamaha, I had the chance to come back, back home.

But, as I’m sure Ludwig Bosendorfer would approve of (not so likely with John Steinway’s ghost), I’m a high end piano guy first, which is why I’m exploring and talking about other high end manufacturers. If I can get 1 person to reconsider the knee-jerk purchase of a Steinway just because “everyone has one”, then I can die a happy man.

..me and some guy…

I previously disabled the comments feature on this site because it is a magnet for spam.

However I just updated to the latest version of WordPress and will turn comments on. Maybe the upgrade fixed the spam problem. Just click on the button that probably says “No comments”.

If you’re a blogger, try wordpress. The upgrade went just as smoothly as they said (still, not for newbies). 

 I welcome comments, mainly to see if anybody is reading this.

Bluthner was the only maker of the 3 that allowed me to take photos. As Christian said, one can take all the photos one wants, you still won’t be able to build a Bluthner, and he’s right.

The factory is a familiar sight of individual craftspeople working on individual pianos, with a mixture of machines for doing various steps, primarily wood working such as planing and trimming.

Rim Construction

There are, in my mind, 3 unique structural features of the Bluthner. The first is the sectioned inner and outer rim. Bluthner uses a laminated rim, as is common in piano building. To those new to this, laminated simply means layers of red beech glued together in a mold. This is a very familiar and traditional method of making a piano rim.

However, instead of being bent all in one piece, they are built in sections and then joined together. The purpose, in Christians words, is to have a rim that is completely free from stress or tension.

In this photo, you can see the outer rim section, and on the right, just the edge of the inner rim joining.

Cylindrical Soundboard Crowning

The second unique feature is the cylindrical, rather than spherical crown. It’s a little hard to show in a photo, but Christian demonstrated with a business card:

This is done for both strength and tonal purposes and is on the uprights as well.

Wednesday morning was a visit to Bluthner, where Christian Bluthner met us with his customary hospitality. This was the hardest day for my son, who had to endure a number of hours of piano related talk before getting on to the good part, but he was a trooper.

I’m not short, Christian is tall!

Just got back from a quick tour of 3 German manufacturers; Bluthner, Steingraeber and Schimmel. I’ve been wanting to visit these makers (and others) and took advantage of my son’s school break and a (relatively) cheap fare from Delta to fly from JFK to Berlin, rent a car, and spend 4 days driving through cold, damp, gloomy northern Europe.

We spent Tuesday morning doing a driving tour of Berlin before driving to Leipzig. Berlin is a fascinating city due primarily to its history, not its current incarnation. While it certainly has its sights, it has more than its share of drab, built-in-a-hurry, post war architecture. I did show my son the wall, drive through the former East part and have a lunch of a Donner. Then on to the autobahn for the 2 hour drive to Leipzig, where we stayed the first night in a typical, small, hotel-restaurant and slept the sleep of the dead.