[CAUT] Ted Sambell / Glenn Gould

[Chris Solliday]

Many of us know and love Ted Sambell as a mentor, friend and colleague, as founder of the piano technology course at George BrThanks for the interesting inside story Mark. Having dealt with the recording industry myself I can appreciate the difference between rumors, liner notes for marketing and reality. Glenn Gould was quite a talent and a character and I'm sure he appreciated  Ted Sambell's steady competence. Has Ted taught at national conventions? If not, the Institute Committee would do well to recruit him for teaching. If he has, bring him back!
 I wonder about the dip measurement. 19/64" Let's see 3/8 is 24/64 so 19 that's not really the end of a shallow (3/8) keydip. What it is I'm not exactly sure. With Steinway though I think we are most used to thousandths so shallow is .390" and as I remember from my youth they tried to hold pretty close to that although 390-410 was given as an acceptable of course today with 17/10 0r 11mm knuckles and heavier hammers we are often hitting .420 and beyond. What year was that piano maunfactured and anybody got specs on that? Chris Solliday
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Mark Cramer 
  To: CAUT 
  Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 9:48 AM
  Subject: [CAUT] Ted Sambell / Glenn Gould


  Many of us know and love Ted Sambell as a mentor, friend and colleague, as founder of the piano technology course at George Brown College (now the program at UWO) and longtime chief technician at the Banff Centre for the Arts.

   

  What some may not know, is that for many years Ted Sambell was Glenn Gould's technician of choice. 

   

  Ted first tuned for Glenn when the performer was just 18 years old. He also tuned for him on one of the very last performances of his career, and entirely throughout his performance years at the Stratford Festival.

   

  And Ted was in fact the technician flown to New York on several hours notice, the evening before the recording of "Two and Three Part Inventions. "

   

  According to Ted, CD318 was the instrument used, but prior to it being dropped and the plate being replaced.   

   

  I was interested in the discussions Michelle prompted regarding this well-known recording, but hesitant to chime in for Ted. 

   

  However, as Ted spent the last week here with Cheryl and I on his way home from PNWC, I thought I'd get him to refresh my memory regarding the facts of this recording, and ask his blessing to share them, for your interest:

   

  Apparently the demands Glenn was making regarding this piano were not quite as bizarre as we imagine. 

   

  Ted informed me the onset of escapement in CD318 was very abrupt. Steinway turned out many actions like that during those years, and we've all experienced them: attempting to control pianissimo, the escapement can actually halt key travel mid-stroke!

   

  So rather than trying to emulate a harpsichord, Glenn simply couldn't tolerate fighting the mechanism. He asked Ted to reduce key-dip until escapement was pretty much at the end of keystroke. (Does 19/64" sound right? Sorry, I'm a child of the metric system)

   

  Anyhow, as Ted points out, with the action back in the piano, he could've kept the shallow dip and merely raised the hammer-line. But that brought the nasty bump back into the keystroke, and Glenn couldn't accept it.

   

  (If you haven't worked with actions of this vintage, try holding a group of hammers at rest while pressing on the keys, like a backcheck-clearance test. Gently allow the hammers upward until the jacks can barely force their way out from under the knuckle. The sensation at the key will give you an accurate idea of what Gould was up against) 

   

  So Ted made his recommendations, but Glenn rather enjoyed the bobbling effect, commenting it sounded like "hiccups."

   

  I hesitate to say "and now you know the rest of the story..." For that, you would have to contact Ted, and I'm sure he'd be delighted. 

   

  Ultimately, when Glenn Gould retired from concert life, his manager asked Ted if he would continue as Glenn's ongoing technician in Toronto. In typical humility, Ted assessed the inconvenience his living in London (Ont.) might pose, and offered a gracious recommendation of a Toronto area technician instead.

   

  Sadly we don't find mention of Ted in any of the fine books on Glenn Gould's life, nor in the recording credits. What we do have though, is the man himself, and any visit with Ted is sure to bring humble yet devoted anecdotes of this remarkable artist/technician relationship to light.

   

  For technicians in Canada, Ted is our "national treasure!"

   

  Best regards

  Mark Cramer,

  Brandon University

   

   

   

    

   

   

   

   

  Ted, Cheryl & Bluthner #105416


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