Hi, Dave, >At 06:42 PM 1/25/01 -0600, you wrote: >>List: >> >>The decision has been made to purchase a Yamaha CFIIIS for our recital >>hall. We have two Steinway "D"s in there and one will be replaced. Our >>chairman was told by an unhappy dealer, that we will be one of only 5 >>music schools that have a Yamaha in their recital hall. I told him, that >>those kind of statistics would be very difficult to obtain, and that I >>have serious doubts about the veracity of that statement. Rubbish. Tell Danny I said to put a sock in it. If you were to draw a sufficiently tight radius, you _might_ be able to justify such a statement. However, within 30 - 45 minutes of where I am sitting (Palo Alto, CA), I can immediately thing of _at least_ three schools with both Ds and CFIII/CFIIIs at which the Yamahas are clearly the instruments preferred by faculty, students and visiting artists. In one such case, there were three instruments (a NY and a Hamburg D, as well as a CFIIIs), and the NY D was so "underused" that it was sold...something that is not often done with a donated instrument. >>Our Artist in Residence (a Steinway artist) liked this particular Yamaha >>very much as did another prominent - and somewhat biased - Steinway >>artist in New York. On the strength of these two artists, whom I know >>and respect, I certainly raised no objections to the Yamaha purchase. We >>hadn't found any other pianos that were really special. Since we are on CAUT, I will risk flame damage to suggest that, while the vast majority of the artists with whom I have worked over the years truly do prefer to play a _good_ Steinway, they have (nearly universally) had so much trouble trying to find/use these that they (and their management) are much more willing to use the instruments of other makers. Concert riders now pretty consistently contain language which, in contrast to the decades of "Steinway only", specify "Steinway, Baldwin, Yamaha, _or other suitable instrument by arrangement_". Thinking of some of the Ds I know of in the area, most real pianists would prefer something "more suitable". (But, then, that gets back to all those subjects opened up in the Kissin thing.) Hmmm - as I think about this, I can think of at least two Steinway artists who record on Yamahas (as did Glenn Gould for his last ten years, I am told). Frankly, I think that this opening of the market is very healthy for everyone concerned (even S&S, although they have trouble understanding that). There have been, and are, some truly very fine instruments out there with some most unlikely names. I have a particular fondness for the old M&H CCs and occasional Knabe concert grand that one used to see. Giving the barest nod to the European "Three Bs" (since they are so well established), it has been a real pleasure to watch and work with the improvement in the instruments produced by both Yamaha and Kawai. These companies are both making highly credible, first-rate concert instruments that do not get sufficient exposure in large part specifically due to the kinds of close-minded, reactionary thinking from dealers (and technicians) mentioned in Dave's post. We have, as a musical culture and profession, lost a great deal over the years in the homogenization of piano tone - there are so many possibilities! Then, for me, the challenge has always been to figure out how a specific instrument can sound and play _its_ best, without regard to manufacture. The important thing is that any such purchasing/rental/loan decision has to have musical considerations as its primary base. Simply put, does the instrument provide an appropriate vehicle for musical performance (and appreciation of it) in your specific venue? Clearly, that is a very big, uneasily answered question. But, this is why I have come to think in terms of transparency in assessing a musical instrument and its environment. Is the instrument transparent to me as a listener, a performer, a technician? Does it enhance or detract from the performance? From this perspective, to the extent that a given instrument intrudes on the collective awareness of these folks as a factor in performance, it may well not be the "best" instrument. This give huge latitude for all the kinds of consideration about which we all spend so much energy - and that is exactly as it should be. As dearly as I love Steinway pianos, it is all too clear that their manufacturing and engineering simply have not kept up with the advances made by Kawai and Yamaha. It is an interesting commentary that Kawai truly seems to have learned more from Steinway in the Boston experience than vice versa. The R series and EX-6 are easily competitive with anything else currently in production. Nice, even scales, easy to tune, stable as to regulation and voicing, excellent finish work. As an added bonus, the EX-6 even sounds like a real piano at the back of a concert hall. What a concept. Two "final" comments (hah!): The first is that at least one (mostly privately funded) school I know of has sold all of their Steinways in favor of rebuilt M&H and new Faziolis. (The present total is around 20 instruments, including four concert grands, with more to come as the school expands.) The second, even more cynical, thought came to me as I read the announcements about the Essex line...the short version of which is that I found myself idly wondering if these instruments were made in French Lick on the old Cosmopolitan line... >>Does anyone have an idea of how common CFIIISs are in music schools? I >>just can't believe that they are that rare. Dave, if you open this up to CFIII/CFIIIs (and earlier), Baldwin, and a few other names, I think that you might be surprised how many non-S&S instruments are doing credible service on stage in various music schools. No question but what Ds are the number one, but I think that, particularly as both manufacturing and, sadly, rebuilding quality has declined - and, prices have gone so high - that more and more schools either have or are going to consider some other brand. Ach! This opens so many other discussions. I, for one, think that if you and your faculty are happy with the instrument you have purchased, then you have probably done the right thing. If you have multiple 9' instruments, it would be interesting to know, over time, how the comparative usage was/etc. You are in an interesting market. Danny has to be concerned with one overriding fact: Every time anyone sees that CFIIIs/any-other-piano are used in preference to a D, it erodes the base of perception which keeps him selling every L, B, and 1098 that Astoria can deliver to him. The same thing is true for every dealer everywhere. Even in today's mass marketing maelstrom (nicely alliterative, yes?), if he does not retain domination of the concert stage, darned if someone won't just buy a Chevy someplace else instead of a Caddy from him. (Do you know that they used to use the same wheel bearings and U-joints?). Furthermore, unlike some dealers, Danny is, I think, still an S&S/Boston-only house...until the Essex came out (see above), if someone walked on a Steinway or Boston, he lost them altogether - dollars out - bad. Further, Texas dealers have another problem - with Joel and Priscilla there in Round Rock, their instruments are under constant, outside, hard-to-discount scrutiny...to say nothing of the competition for sales/rebuilding dollars. Hmmm - well, once again, more than two-cents, plain. Keep your powder dry! Best. Horace +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Horace Greeley, email: hgreeley@stanford.edu CNA, MCP, RPT Systems Analyst/Engineer voice: 650.725.9062 Controller's Office fax: 650.725.8014 Stanford University 651 Serra St., RM 100, MC 6215 Stanford, CA 94305-6215 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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