Why did Richter choose Yamaha over Steinway, Bechstein, etc.? 
not that Yamaha isn’t good but there are better options…
Richter and Gould switched over in the 70’s-80’s. Fiorentino was a Yamaha artist, too. The really top notch Yamaha’s I think can compete with pretty much any piano.
koji
Did Gould switch because of the hand-thing( a steinway tuner wanted to get his autograph and touched Gould`s hand)
-da Meph
That’s the rumour, apparently (described in detail in Franz Mohr’s book).
koji
IMO, Yamahas are great in general. But the only Yamaha that can compete with Steinway is the CFIIIS. But the CFIIIS is quiet different from other Yamahas…
PS. CFIIIS = Concert Grand.
Didn’t Richter play the Estonia too?
Richter played Yamaha almost exclusively from 1969 through to his death. However, he would occasionally play other pianos too( Estonia, Bosendorfer, Steinway and others ).
“There simply is more music in this Grand. With its higher notes of greatly improved structure it also feature s more powerful sound volumes and keys, which yield to the slightest touch. The basses can be made to sound and reverberate like organ pipes, but nevertheless are clear to the lowest notes. The treble is delicate and effulgent, but, by no means only bright. Well proportioned, with exquisitely rounded corners, stands the Grand ESTONIA - large, beautyful and imposing.”
Sviatoslav Richter
I read in a book, I think it was Otto Friedrich’s biography of Gould, that he had been looking for a new piano since his Steinway “D” had been dropped during a move and was no longer satisfactory. He wwas interested in finding a piano specifically to record the Goldberg Variations on again. He was at Ostrovsky Pianos in NYC (used to be behind Carnegie Hall on 56th street, maybe it still is) to try out August Forsters, when in typical Gouldian fashion he noticed a beat up late model Yamaha in a back room. He played the piano, and that was that, he bought it.
A mofo who knew what he wanted…
Here is film of him playing the Chopscherz 2 on one… 
Yamahas are aight.