Best piano in your world.

[Phillip Ford]

>In my piano billboard, the n° 1 happen to change, from time to time.

That happens to me too.

>   Last month n° 1 was a ... Hautrive (yes, yes, a belgian brand... 
>Even I didn't expect that).

I've never even heard of it.

>  9ft, very massive....
>So, could I add this question : apart from the best beloved piano of 
>yours, what do you think come into the matter when we do such a 
>jugement ?  What conditions influence our intuitive aesthetical 
>appreciation of an instrument ?
>My guess :
>1. Ideal piano in your head, built up with all the pianos you heard 
>: the sound you expect from a piano and to which you compare one 
>particular.

I think this is part of it.  And this ideal piano changes with time 
as we get exposed to more pianos.  I think my ideal piano isn't based 
on any particular piano that I've heard.  But it may be based on 
parts of pianos that I've particularly liked, and integrated together 
in my head.  There's an old Steinway B (around 1890) that I know, and 
it has my ideal bass.  The rest of the piano isn't really that good, 
but I love the bass on that piano.  The best top end I ever 
encountered was on a small Henry Miller grand (don't even remember 
the age and size), which came as a complete surprise to me.  Once 
again, a sort of ho-hum piano, but the top end was amazing.  Best 
sustaining piano was a 20s Mason-Hamlin BB.  Almost like playing on 
an organ.  Etc.  Put them all together, and you've got one great 
piano.

>2. Brand name and glory, or ideas you attach to it (are you prepared 
>to like a Wurlitzer upright ? or a no name 5 ft ?).
>3. Physical condition of your ears at the first time you try it (if 
>you come out of a harpsichord tuning job, you will probably find the 
>piano very soft sounding).
>4. Moral environment of that first try (if the piano belongs to 
>someone you like, you will probably easier find it good, and 
>opposite).

I think this has a lot to do with it.  It's like wine.  You drink a 
bottle of wine with good friends and with a good meal and you think, 
wow this wine is great.  You drink another bottle of the same wine in 
a different time and place and you think, I wonder why I liked this 
wine so well before?

I remember many years ago going to do a tuning in Mill Valley, which 
is a small town north of San Francisco next to Muir Woods, a redwood 
forest.  This particular house was situated on a hill which was right 
on the edge of the forest.  It was one of those cold and foggy days 
which are so typical around here in the summer.  The owner was not 
home, but had left the house open for me.  From the road I had to 
walk down about 200 wooden steps through fog and redwood trees.  The 
house was an L shaped building on the side of the hill.  When I went 
inside I found that the interior was one large L shaped room - a sort 
of loft space with high ceilings and glass all along the two walls 
that faced out to the forest.  At the apex of the L was a fireplace. 
And in front of the fireplace was a Grotrian concert grand. 
Everything was perfectly quiet and all you could see was fog and 
trees.  You had the sense that no one else was around.  After I did 
the tuning I sat for a while undisturbed, playing on this elegant and 
beautiful instrument in the middle of an enchanted forest.  Shortly 
after, I moved away from the SF Bay Area for a while, so I never saw 
that instrument again.  I wonder if I saw it now, on a sunny day, 
when it was obvious that there were other houses around, and when it 
was obvious that you were actually looking across a road at the 
forest, and with the owner hovering around while I worked, if I would 
be as enchanted by that piano as I was then.

Phil Ford

>5. Repertoire you play at that moment (can reveal or hide the beauty 
>of the instrument).
>What else ?
>
>Stéphane Collin.
>
>Topperpiano@aol.com a écrit :
>
>>Let's all think about the one piano that you have seen/heard/tuned 
>>that really knocked your socks off.  The one piano that you wanted 
>>to implant the sound in your head.  The one that you hoped the 
>>little old lady who owned it would leave it to you because you were 
>>the only one who really appreciated how truly amazing it was.  Mine 
>>was a very old 7ft Ibach, ...
>>Your turn. TP
>
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