Reproducing pianos and Piano disk players

[D.L. Bullock]

I applaud Rob Goodale on his educated view of reproducing pianos.  I have
specialized in them since I restored my first almost 30 years ago.  I am now
finishing up a 5'10" Knabe 1927 Ampico A.  I recently finished a Wheelock B
Drawer Ampico and I am still working on a Fischer A.  I have two Weber Duo
Arts and a Steinway Duo Art in the wings coming through the shop shortly.  I
have spent years listening to what the original artists sounded like in
their expression roll recordings.  I know what they should sound like.

I enjoyed installing and tweaking the electronic player systems but
consistently the software was deficient.  Superscope's Pianocorder recorded
Tushinsky's 20,000 roll collection and converted it all to Pianocorder but
the system needed refinement.  It was rushed to market and had to be good
enough.  The live recordings were far better expression than the ones taken
from rolls.

The PianoDisc system software never even tried very hard to get expression
but the notes were all there and that satisfied them.  The expression was so
bad that they lost me years ago. I do not even know if they sound better
today.  I don't have the interest to bother listening.

The Disklavier took rolls and converted them using a video camera and the
result was again just a shadow of the original Duo Art or Ampico Rolls.
Take the expensively produced CD of the Gershwin rolls that was done by Ms.
Wodehouse for Yamaha.  I have those very rolls on Duo Art that Gershwin
played.  The CD sounds like a hack pianist compared to my fully functional
pneumatic Duo Art playing his rolls.

The Pianomation seems to be the best.  They really seemed to care about the
end result being great.  They still have not come to 100% as good as the
original rolls, but they are the closest.

The best most artistic system built was the Bosendorffer SE but there were
only around 50 of them ever built.  How many people would pay $180K for a
piano with a computer attached to it?

I believe the best modern use of the original reproducing piano rolls is
still to come.  There are people now working on just such a system.

If you do not believe that Rachmaninoff could play a piano and have
everything he did recorded EXACTLY, then go find one of the two "Window in
Time" CD's of Rachmaninoff's piano rolls.  You can find it in any CD store.
It will really give you pause and make you question your nose being in the
air about player pianos.

D.L. Bullock
www.thepianoworld.com
St. Louis