artist's "touch' ?

[gordon stelter]

Well, that's new one to me! I can just imagine the
look of disgust on the next pianist's face, when they
feel those slimy keys!
     Ha!
     Thump

--- Ed Carwithen <edwithen@oregontrail.net> wrote:
> 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.  
> 
>   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
> 


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