>I agree with the "stingy" use of the needles. I've had pianist say they >would rather >have too bright than dull. They can deal with bright but dull is...well >dull. > >David I. Hi David.....HER concept of dull, maybe, but not dull.....quite a few pianists---some pianists---don't really listen passionately to the instrument, and can't pull or draw the sound out of pianos, so they need an edge (to me a metallic clang at low volume) to feel comfortable. I literally can't listen to certain modern piano recordings: way too edgy, too "broken-glass" at low volume, and very, very ugly at high volume unless it has to cut through an entire triple-forte orchestra. Listen to the live recording of Lang Lang at Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood----a beautifully voiced piano for live performance, but certainly "duller," in your parlance, than most concert grands I've come upon. To me, what you call dull(perhaps) is classic piano tone---completely clear, but mellow and throaty, golden and viscous at piano and mezzo; a little snarl appears at forte, and a real edge of brilliance, of snarl, of snap, appears at double forte---really, check this record out; Barbara Pease Renner is a monster pianotech, and her husband Jack is a monster recording engineer; the piano is miked and recorded in a full, natural, very near-field way.....great spread and clarity: my current record to use as a demo for what I consider to be great live piano sound. In the studio, you can go even darker; the sound begins to take on incredible colors when all the bang is out of the hammers.........very intimate-sounding. Anyway....endless are the arguments of mages.... :----) David A.
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