[CAUT] Ted Sambell / Glenn Gould

[Scott E Thile]

Mark, Thanks so much for this information from Ted. It is priceless! 

One interesting note-- We have CD319 here at Murray State. It is one of the
finest Ds I've worked on. Among it's many charms it has a Kluge made ivory
keyboard. Most everyone who has played it loves this piano, and so do I. 

Thankfully I have not noticed that CD319 has the abrupt let off Ted mentions
was the case with Gould's famous CD318. Ours is completely original, at
least in terms of action parts and touch weight. It has a nice light feel to
it, weighing in at just shy of 50 grams in the midsection. It is also very
expressive and even. 

Right now this piano in desperate need of restringing the top two sections
and is getting close to needing hammers and S&F, otherwise it's an amazing
instrument. Hopefully I can attend to at least the partial restringing this
summer.

Thanks again for the inside scoop Mark. I will treasure this information,
and I have several pianist friends that will be completely fascinated with
it!

Scott

Scott E. Thile
Piano-Instrument Tech
---------------------
Dept. of Music, Murray State University
504 Fine Arts Building, Murray, KY 42071
http://campus.murraystate.edu/staff/scott.thile/index.html
mailto:scott.thile at murraystate.edu
My Faith:
http://campus.murraystate.edu/staff/scott.thile/Christian/index.html
Ministry: http://www.radioministries.org/ 

________________________________

	From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Mark Cramer
	Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 8:49 AM
	To: CAUT
	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