[CAUT] Sustain in modern grands: was S S model M

[Ed Sutton]

Malcolm Bilson has recorded a DVD lecture "Knowing the Score," 
(www.cornellpress.cornell.edu), in which he demonstrates how different 
instruments "force" the interpretation of Mozart and Beethoven, largely due 
to different qualities of attack and sustain, and also due to presence or 
lack of timbral differences between various registers of the piano. I 
recommend it.

One of my customers has a 10-year-old S & S M. Due to construction and 
weather the humidity in her house has been very high this year. She 
complains that the sustain of the undamped treble has become too long! (It 
is long.)

In my shop I have a rescue piano, on which I have tested several of the 
technologies for increasing sustain. They work, and the piano is no fun to 
play.

Ed S.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Brekne" <ricb at pianostemmer.no>
To: <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 06, 2009 8:21 AM
Subject: [CAUT] Sustain in modern grands: was S S model M


> Hi all
>
> Since this sustain issue in the upper treble comes up again... I thought 
> I'd raise a question I'm coming across increasingly as I get more involved 
> in historical instruments and as I see more pianists reactions to new 
> bridge configurations meant to increase existing modern sustain times in 
> this region.
>
> I'll post a sound sample  from a brand new copy of a piano forte made in 
> the Netherlands of some Haydn pieces to illustrate later this evening.
>
> Nearly all the music written for the piano was written for an instrument 
> that had quite a bit shorter sustain time... indeed very different tonal 
> qualities.  Indeed at some point the modern instrument tends to redefine 
> (read make redundant) the term Staccato. Even as the modern instrument 
> began to take form there is serious question as to how much conscious use 
> of sustain time in especially these regions of the piano were a part of 
> the composers mindset.
> Eonic sustain times up here may be something ears in the near recent past 
> have decided to indulge in... but they are hardly an issue from say 50 
> years ago on back in time... quite probably the opposite was true if 
> anything at all... decay qualities.
>
> I get the feeling that as long as an area experiences a smooth transition 
> to adjacent areas... there is no issue brought up by the pianist.  This 
> includes all sorts of touch issues as well for that matter.
>
> Cheers
> RicB