Bösendorfer Rim

[Ric Brekne]

Hi Ric

The experience I had in London was some years back.  But last year I 
took over responsibilities for pianotechnical affairs for the Bergen 
International Festival and as part of that I ended up matching our 
university's 2 year old CF III -S with a 20 year old Steinday D 
(Hamburg) in a very large hall every bit of 50 meters long.  In THIS 
case the Yamaha ate the Steinway alive. Fair enough that this particular 
Steinway has had trouble in its mid tenor since it was new, and that the 
Yamaha is perhaps the best Yamaha CF III I have ever run into... and by 
a good shot at that.... but standing at the back of Håkonhallen and 
listening to the two it was just plain scary.  The artists for the 
evening used about 3 minutes to decide for the Yamaha instead of the 
Steinway for the bulk of the program which required 1 instrument. And 
when the two were played together it was no contest.

Point being that this recent experience points me in the direction that 
Yamaha has nearly got their piano like they want it, and it is able to 
hamel up with Steinways.  Given their marketing power and never ending 
banging away at the market.... I see a real potential for them 
eventually breaking down the barriers.  That said... what good will it 
do if it just leads a continuance of the <<one sound>> mentality ?

Cheers
RicB

----------
Hi RicB
,
Some nice and eloquently expressed comments on the Steinway-Boesendorfer  
front.

I was very interested in your comment regarding Yamaha  'perhaps' joining
Steinway in the dominance issue on the orchestral  platform.  One of the 
recent
postings describes a 'contest' between the  Steinway D and the Yamaha 
CF111,
with the Yamaha losing power at quite a  close aural distance.  This has 
been my
experience having heard the  Yamaha with full orchestra on a number of
occasions.  Are you aware of  anything new in the Yamaha design which 
actually does
challenge the  power of the best Steinway ?  I have certainly been 
impressed
with  many Yamahas, the S6 and the concert grands for instance, which 
can sound
quite  splendid in recital venues, but  with a full orchestra don't 
stand up
to  the Steinway competition regarding power.  In short, do you think that  
Yamahas are attepting to compete on power with an orchestra?
 
ric