Overs Grands

[Richard Brekne]

Hi list

For the past 5 months one of our students at the UiB has been down in
Australia studying for his masters. This is one of our <<star>>
students, he has released a CD of his own that has recieved some very
high reviews over here. His name is Torgeir Solsvik. Torgeir is one of
those students/pianists that takes an interest in constructive dialogue
with pianotechnicians, and through his years as an undergraduate at UiB
has been a valuable resource for me.

Just before he traveled to Australia, we had talked quite abit about the
the Stuart and the Overs instruments, and he was very enthuastic about
trying out both, promising to give me a full report when he gets back
for Christmas break.

About six weeks ago he had his first real good session with the Stuart
instrument, and had some very positive comments. The instrument was
quite different from the piano as we all know and love it today, and he
seemed quite intrigued with its unique tone character. Impressions I
have of this instrument being reminiscent of  Forte instruments from the
19th century were strengthed by many of his comments. On the down side
he notes that the instrument does not handle forcefull playing as well
as he would like. As is probably to be expected with an instrument that
so deviates from the normal sound of pianos, his comments are mixed and
seem to reflect some degree of uncertainty as to how he should approach
playing it.

Just last week however, he sent me another flurry of emails. He had met
our Ron Overs and had a chance to play one of the Overs grands, no. 3.
His enthuasiasm for this piano was overwhelming and with no holding
back. He was particularilly impressed with the level of control
available in the Overs action.  "I really didnt believe such an
experience was possible",  he wrote and continued "His (Overs) action is
absolutly a stroke of genius"

Torgeir is a fellow who I know absolutely has a very good and very
conscioius grasp of what he is playing, and how it performs. He is a
pianist who is able to express what he senses in terms a piano
technician can understand much better then most, which also reflects
positively on his level of awarness. This is one of the reasons I was so
delighted to hear he was on his way to Australia in the first place, as
I knew I would get some very high quality first hand feedback about both
these instruments.

I will be able to talk more with him when he does get back in a couple
weeks, and I look forward to hearing more from him in the next 5 months
as he returns to Australia to continue his studies. He will get a chance
to expand his experiences with both instruments, and will no doubt get a
chance to play the Overs no 4 instrument which is due to be finished in
the not so distant future.

Anyways... just thought this might be of interest to some of you.

Cheers

RicB

--
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
UiB, Bergen, Norway
mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no
http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html
http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html