This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment The Oregon East Symphony performed Tchaikovsky's 1st Piano Concerto this = past weekend with Dickran Atamian at the piano. He was VERY unhappy = with the piano. Fortunately for me, another technician was the tuner = for this instrument. He complained that there was no "resistance" to = the action. Everything was way too limber. In soft passages he had = trouble controlling the lightness of his playing because the tone = sounded almost before he was ready for it. In loud passages (and there = was PLENTY of loud), there was nothing to push against. He was also unhappy with the way that the ivories kept "drying up." He = had some kind of lotion in a sort of sachet that he kept gripping with = his hand, and would then run his hands up and down the keyboard to get = the keys more slick. I should mention that the piano is an 9' Baldwin. It has been restrung = several years past, but while not new, it is in pretty fair condition. = It is not new, but it is kept up, and regularly serviced by a very fine = RPT in our area. I don't think that there was any unhappiness about the = work of the tech, only the condition of the piano. I should also mention that Atamian plays at or beyond the threshold of = pain for volume a great deal of the time. I am amazed that there were = no strings or hammers broken. He certainly did his best to pound the = double H out of it. =20 He didn't seem to have any complaint about the tuning itself, just the = "freeness" of the action. How the piano held it's tuning through his = banging is a major miracle. He did tell all and sundry that the piano = was a "piece of junk," and the management should get rid of it rather = than having any professional try to make music on it. His performance was of the highest caliber, and he deserved the = standing O that he got. In rehearsal and in performance it was obvious = that he is highly gifted and dedicated, as well as knowledgeable to the = point of obsession about the Tchaikovsky concerto. It is just that his = concerns about the piano were curious to me. What steps could a tech make to put more resistance in the piano? = Especially between Friday night and Saturday afternoon? Is this a = common complaint with artists? How about the business with the keys = being dry. I thought that artists wished the keys to be clean and dry = so their fingers didn't slide. That is the opposite of what he wanted. Has anyone had experience tuning for Mr. Atamian, and how was it? Inquiring minds want to know. Ed Carwithen John Day, OR ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/02/a9/40/33/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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