Case in point: This past weekend I rented a grand for a wedding reception which had been thru previous rentals.This time a jack had broken in the octave below middle C. Granted the parts were 1907 vintage and I did forget to reinforce them with CA but the Father of the Bride did mention that 'he really played it', emphasizing his exuberance for the fortisimo. However it is not a new occurrence where force is utilized over finesse. I have heard plenty of bangers in my day but the two outstanding players in the finesse department were Rudolph Fercushny (sp) and Ellis Larkins. I could listen to these guys all day. There is one guy here who no one wants to follow in a multi-performer concert. He'll turn anything into toothpicks :-) On a different note, today was a perfect day weather-wise; I actually took a break to go out and get the mail. . . Indian Summer here is great, Jon Page At 03:44 PM 10/03/2000 -0400, you wrote: >Having been involved with piano performance from both sides of the fence (i.e. >pianist and technician) - and these remarks apply equally to both >historical and >modern pianos - it is ultimately the responsibility of the pianist to adapt as >required to meet the characteristics of whatever instrument is presented. >There >is no excuse for banging fff with rough and ugly tone. While many pianists can >make some pianos sound good, it is possible to make any piano sound bad, >and, by >recognizing its limitations, the true artist is capable of making any piano >sound good. In my experience there is no shortage of spoiled-brat un-thinking >superstar pianists, however there is a serious shortage of true artists. Go >think. > >Stephen > >Stephen Birkett Fortepianos >464 Winchester Drive >Waterloo, Ontario >Canada N2T 1K5 >tel:519-885-2228 >mailto: birketts@wright.aps.uoguelph.ca Jon Page, piano technician Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass. mailto:jonpage@mediaone.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC